Information and technology (IT) firms will lead the country’s digital transformation in all sectors, said Phan Tam, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications (MIC).

Speaking at the Viet Nam CEO Summit 2019 held in Ha Noi on Thursday, Tam said the Fourth Industrial Revolution would create breakthroughs for countries which take advantage of its opportunities.

“The Vietnamese Government advocates fully tapping opportunities from Industry 4.0 in service of national digital transformation, making it easier for Viet Nam to escape the middle-income trap and become a modern industrialised nation by 2045,” he said.

He added that developing the digital economy would be one of the key tasks to promote economic restructuring and renewal of the growth model. The digital transformation would increase information and data access to bring new business opportunities and help local companies join regional and global value chains.

“The development strategy of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector for 2021–30 will focus on e-government, therefore Viet Nam needs to develop digital infrastructure and national data systems, thus laying the foundations for the digital economy. Businesses should be considered the centre for research and development, technology application and transfer,” he added.

The Government and MIC had taken measures to realise the targets, focusing on developing some key ICT firms to be leaders in terms of technology infrastructure and foundations for the digital economy, encouraging the development of local private companies, especially in the areas of manufacturing, hi-tech and IT.

Keith Davies, director of Energy and Resources at Monitor Deloitte Singapore said digital technology had made changes to every business.

Accordingly, marketing activities, developing customer networks, improving staff capacity, sales and other business functions had been redefined.

A report on digital business by MIT SMR and Deloitte in 2018 showed that 90 per cent of surveyed firms said they needed to update their skills at least once a year while 22 per cent in the first phase of digital renewal were gradually giving decision-making power to low-level managers.

Economist Pham Tri Hung said economic performance had achieved high results thanks to the digital economy. Economic sectors had seen breakthroughs in business models from e-commerce, online advertisement on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Zalo to entertainment including Netflix, Pinterest or transport such as Uber, Grab and GoViet as well as wholesale and retail (Sendo, Lazada, Shopee).

“However, the readiness for application of Industry 4.0 in production and business of industrial sectors has been low. Up to 61 per cent of businesses are still outside Industry 4.0 while 21 per cent have undertaken initial preparation activities,” he said.

Businesses in trade and services had been more ready to access digital technologies. Those in finance, banking, logistics, tourism and insurance had applied digital technologies in modernising their business process.

He said the challenges for businesses in digital transformation were shortages of human resources, technologies and finance as well as barriers in business culture and leaders’ vision.

He suggested that firms should have overall transformation from business, products and traditional services to doing business on digital platforms. Meanwhile, the Government should help local enterprises resolve issues of markets, regulations and business policies.

Experts also said that Viet Nam should make use of every opportunity to step up innovation, start-ups, and Internet of Things on the back of its young workforce and rapid expansion of ICT.

According to them, Viet Nam is well-positioned to develop blockchain technology, which can be applied in finance-banking, retail, cargo transportation, manufacturing and telecommunications.

Over 400 corporate executives, economists, financial and technological experts at home and abroad attended the event.

The event aimed to offer participants an overview of the digital transformation trend, and update them on new products and services built on modern digital technology. — VNS