What does Vietnam need for digital transformation?

Phuong Trinh, the owner of a restaurant in HCMC, is checking his business on Grab and Now. She notes that orders from the two apps have become unsatisfactory and wants to identify the problems to adjust the food processing capacity and working schedule.

At BVOT, a company that specializes in running business campaigns for automobile enterprises, officers don’t stay after 6 pm and don’t work on weekends. In order to apply the policy, all the operation stages must be digitized.

Every day, officers take duties from the system and update their implementation process. The method has helped increase productivity.

Tran Hong Ninh, CEO of BVOT, said he is trying a model which allows work from a distance. The money saved from office leasing will be used for a new wage policy.

‘Digital transformation’ entails digitizing business activities to generate data which could be used for specific business purposes and corporate governance. Young businesses related to e-commerce are enterprises which have the highest demand for digital transformation.

The high level of business digitalization is applying AI apps, i.e using data in a smarter and more effective way. In Vietnam, there are few reports about successful applications of AI in business.

The number of digitized businesses in Vietnam is modest, according to Ho Tu Bao, a respected expert from John von Neumann Institute. This can be seen in the low revenue from IaaS (infrastructure as a service), the index used as meter to measure the digitalization capability of enterprises in one country.

According to IDC, IaaS revenue in Vietnam was $31.2 million in 2017, or 1/3 of Thailand’s, and is expected to reach $100 million by 2020. It ranks above Laos and Cambodia only in Southeast Asia.

There are many reasons that explain why Vietnam’s businesses still have not got used to digitalization, including the way of thinking and operating businesses.

Bao commented that the success of businesses in digital transformation and AI application will heavily depend on leaders of businesses.

The policies of the state also play an important role in accelerating the digital transformation. The US, China, UK and France all have set policies to accelerate the process and support the development of AI.

Bao suggested giving tax preferences to enterprises successfully carrying out digital transformation.

Pham Hong Phong, Managing Director of Oracle Vietnam, said on the Vietnam Economics Times that Southeast Asia in general and Vietnam in particular are fast becoming hubs of Industry 4.0 with companies working to incorporate digital and analytical technologies into their systems and processes.