A representative of FPT Software told Vietnam Economic Times that the company aimed to increase its staff working in Japan from 500 to 3,000 by 2020. — Photo FPT

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Japan might need to recruit 30,000 foreign Information Technology (IT) engineers in the next four years to work in the country especially from India and Viet Nam.

Nguyen Doan Hung, chairman of the Viet Nam - Japan IT Cooperation Club (VJC) made this observation at the Viet Nam IT Day 2016 in Japan recently.

The event was co-organised by the Viet Nam Software and IT Service Association (Vinasa), VJC and Japan Information Technology Service Industry Association (JISA) with the theme of "Viet Nam - Japan IT Co-operation heading to TPP" in the end of February.

The annual event has been organised since 2013 with the purpose of boosting IT co-operation between Vietnamese and Japanese companies.

There were more than 200 Japanese enterprises attending the event, along with 16 units from Viet Nam, which are leading IT names nationwide.

A representative of FPT Software told Thoi bao kinh te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Times) that the company aimed to increase its staff working in Japan from 500 to 3,000 by 2020.

The company also set goals to earn revenue of US$500 million by 2020 from the Japanese market, accounting for 50 per cent of its total revenue.

Its target for the market is to increase revenue by 40 per cent and 60 per cent in human resources this year, the representative said.

Vietnamese enterprises have made efforts in seeking ways to co-operate with the Japanese as well as Vietnamese schools in order to meet the large demand.

For example, there is FPT Software with a training programme for 10,000 Japanese-speaking IT engineers, or Rikkeisoft with the target of 1,000 IT engineers for Japanese market, reported the Vietam Economic Times.

Discussing the IT co-operation between the two sides, Le Quang Luong, deputy chairman of VJC, said that Japanese partners clarified their expectations from their Vietnamese partners for tighter co-operation.

These expectations include the enhancement of management quality and capacity, technical capacity, increase of human resources that can work onsite, and improvement of communication skills and cultural knowledge.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese side also expects their Japanese partners to increase co-operation in human resources, boost technical and professional transfers and increase usage of English.

However, according to experts, Vietnamese IT enterprises face the challenge of insufficient human resources, especially skilled staff with good software skills and knowledge of foreign languages, mainly Japanese and English.

IT experts said that to meet the requirement of the important market, Vietnamese enterprises should focus on their human resources, have close co-operation programmes with training units and develop human resources both in quantity and in quality.

At the conference, Vinasa shared information on the Vietnamese IT market as a fast-growing market with preferential policies from the government and a new vision considering IT as the most important driving force for the country's socio-economic development.

Vinasa also introduced the "2015 Vietnam's 40 leading IT companies" in Japan.

The reliable publication introduces 40 leading IT companies of Viet Nam, voted by Vinasa last year.

Vinasa and VJC also worked with Japanese IT organisations and associations to support Japanese companies to come to Viet Nam to join the tenth anniversary of Japan ICT Day, an important programme in the Viet Nam – Japan IT co-operation this year.

The event will be held in Ha Noi and Da Nang in October this year. — VNS