Attendants of the conference on SMAC experience technology showcased by Vietnamese enterprises on the sidelines of the IT Day 2014. — Photo ictnews.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — SMAC, a combination of the elements of social, mobility, analytics and cloud, offers a good opportunity for Viet Nam to catch up with developed nations in the digital era.

Hoang Le Minh, Director of the Vietnam National Institute of Software and Digital Content Industry under the Ministry of Information and Communications, made this declaration during a conference on SMAC: The Platform for Smart Development, held here last August 22.

Minh said that among the four elements, all users could understand social and mobility but would find it difficult to understand and have knowledge of analytics and cloud.

"The government and enterprises must understand clearly about analytics and cloud because they are the foundation and tools for development However, in order to apply SMAC successfully in Viet Nam, the government, companies and scientists need to cooperate closely and more effectively and have to build a long-term development process," Minh added.

For the period of 2014-2015, the government has formulated a strategy to develop science and technology. Minh said that this was a crucial time for the government to develop SMAC to increase the country's capability to compete. He also suggested that the government build national-scale infrastructure for analyzing data.

The ministry has assigned the institute to develop models for applying cloud and analytics for Viet Nam. According to Minh, his office has checked out development models from international partners, mostly in the US, and have prepared infrastructure for the coming three years.

Speaking at the conference, Gartner's executive partner, Jonathan Krause, said the internet was effectively connecting the real world with the virtual world, and this has changed the nature of business by enabling customers to get involved.

In 2009, things connected to the internet were smaller than people connected to the internet by personal devices. However, this trend is expected to be reversed in 2020.

According to the results of a survey by Gartner, technology has branched out into two sides: new things such as analytics, mobility and digitalization on one hand, and renovation of existence, including data systems and security, on the other. Krause said that the chief information officers (CIOs) of enterprises have to operate both at the same time, but not with the same team.

In 2014, the expenditure for information technology worldwide is projected to reach US$3,800 billion. Its cost in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to be $767 billion, a 5.5 per cent increase compared with that of 2013. SMAC is believed to be one of the main factors that is sparking this rapid development.

Nguyen Minh Hong, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, said the rapid development of information technology has contributed to the renovation of the model of growth.

"Mobility, big data, cloud, and social have brought the smart development trend to all areas. This is an opportunity and a challenge for each country to increase its capacity for competitiveness and gain a position in the digital world," Hong said.

The conference was organised to mark the first Information Technology Day 2014, which has attracted 400 participants.

Sponsored by the Ministries of Information and Communications, and Science and Technology, the event will be held annually to create a high-quality forum on science and technology and raise public awareness of IT application and development for government offices, organisations, enterprises and people. — VNS