The role of technology enterprises in building a "digital Vietnam"

ENTERPRISES TO DEVELOP CORE TECHNOLOGIES 

The reality of developed countries shows that major national technology corporations play a very important role in building e-government and digital society. These corporations accompany the government to enable and master fundamental technologies, creating a playground for small and medium enterprises. They also play a pioneering role in promoting digital transformation for the whole society.

In Vietnam, in the past few years, large technology corporations such as VNPT, Viettel, FPT, etc. have concentrated resources and in fact have  successfully built many important platforms, forming a foundation for e-government construction. Typical examples include the National Document  Interconnection  Bus;  the  National Public Service Portal; the Government Reporting Information System; The Directional and Governance Information System, and the National Reporting Information System built by VNPT Group. These are all important foundational systems that contribute to e-Government development in Vietnam.

With the National Public Service Portal, after nearly a year of implementation (launched on December 9th, 2019), up to now, it has integrated and provided nearly 2,200 online public services out of a total of nearly 7,000 procedures at 4 levels of governance, contributing to reducing administrative procedures, saving costs for the society and people. Meanwhile, the National Document Interconnection Bus connects with 95/95 ministries, branches, localities, and the Party Central Office; sending and receiving electronic documents at 2 levels of government. To date, millions of electronic documents have been circulated via the National Document Interconnection Bus.

VNPTGroupisalsoapioneerinresearching,developing, andmasteringthefoundationofbuildingIntelligentOperations Centers(IOCs)forprovinces/cities.Withtheintegrationofinformationanddatainmanyfieldsofactivity,whichisvisuallyandvividlydisplayed,theIOCswillhelpleaderstohaveacomprehensivereal-timeinsightofallaspectsofsocio-economicoperationstomakequick,timely,accuratedecisions,savingalotoftimeandeffortintheprocessofworksupervisionandadministration.ThroughtheIOCsystem,itwillalsohelpincreasetheinteractionbetweenthepeopleandthegovernment,contributingtoincreasingthelevelofsatisfactionofpeopleandbusinesseswiththegovernment'sactivities.Upto now,VNPThasdeployedthissystemtomorethan20provinces / cities nationwide.

AnotherlargeVietnamesetechnologycorporationwhoplaystheroleofenablingandmasteringcoretechnology,isViettelGroup.Viettelhasbeencontributingtodigitallytransformingtheoperationsofstateagencies,bringingmanypracticalbenefitstostatemanagementagencieswiththebuilding of manysystemssuchas:Documentandjobprofilemanagement system(ViettelmOffice)andInformationSystemformeetingsandhandlingworkoftheGovernment(e-Cabinet),etc.

ThesystemshelpGovernmentleaderstomanageanddirectoperationsviamobiledeviceswithdigitalsignatureonSIMcardwithintegrationofdigitalcertificateissuedbytheVietnamGovernmental InformationSecurity Commission. Inaddition,Viettelalsobuildsonlinepublicservicesolutionsforstateagencies,aswellasSmartOperationsCentersforcitiesandprovinces,supportingpeopleinallactivities,fromserviceregistration,receivingresultsofapplicationprocessingtopaymentofservicefeesandcharges.Feedbackstostate agencies are also served on these solutions.

In particular, Viettel has successfully researched and manufactured 5G network equipment, while there has been only 4 technology superpowers that can do it, including the US vendors; Nokia, and Ericsson (in Europe); Samsung (in South Korea), and Huawei (in China). Vietnam, with Viettel's representation, has put its name on this list with the 5th position.

In addition, both VNPT and Viettel have built solution ecosystem for each sector such as healthcare and education. To do the above, in addition to building a strong infrastructure, VNPT and Viettel are both mastering core technologies such as: AI, Bigdata, Cloud, IoT, Blockchain, etc.

Another big name is Vingroup Group. In 2018, Vingroup officially announced a key investment strategy in the Technology - Industry sector with the goal that by 2028, Vingroup  will  become  a  world-class  Technology  -  Industry - Service Group, in which Technology accounts for the main proportion. The establishment of VinFast, VinSmart, VinTech, Big Data Institute, Institute of AI and most recently the idea of "Smart Giant City" has shown Vingroup's determined steps in the direction of becoming a technology group by 2028.

To realize this goal, Vingroup has launched many groups of solutions. Specifically, the Group continues to promote, improve, and upgrade the quality and efficiency of the existing trade and service business. Trade and services not only act as a financial backing for the two new areas, but also are an important ecosystem to support research and commercialization of industrial technology products. With the industrial segment, Vingroup continues to promote automotive production and manufacturing of smart electrical home products. On June 14th, 2019, at Dinh Vu Industrial Park, in Cat Hai, Hai Phong, VinFast Production and Trading Co., Ltd. under Vingroup Corporation inaugurated an automobile factory, which officially entered the mass production stage. With 21 months of construction and completion - VinFast car factory has achieved a world record in progress; at the same time, lifting the Vietnamese automotive industry to a new level of self-sufficiency in production and global value chain under the Vietnamese brand of VinFast.

With the technology segment, Vingroup has identified many spearheads to strongly boost investment. After more than 2 years, in 2020, VinSmart officially launched Vsmart Live 4. This is the first smartphone to mark 100% autonomy of VinSmart, from hardware design, operating system, and production.

Also, in 2020, Vingroup Group has successfully produced 02 invasive respirator models of Vsmart VFS -410 and Vsmart VFS - 510. These are the two models of invasive respirator apparatus completed and manufactured by Vingroup's ecosystem with high localization rate, licensed and approved for circulation by the Ministry of Health of Vietnam.

DIGITAL PRODUCTS DEVELOPMENT ENTERPRISES

Besides the core technology development group of enterprises, digital product development group of enterprises, such as CMC, Bkav, etc. also plays an important role in digital transformation in Vietnam.

At the end of 2019, in the seminar with 50 participants from enterprises of the Red Star Club and the Hanoi Young Business Association, CMC President / CEO Nguyen Trung Chinh affirmed, as one of the pioneering company that has many research projects on digital transformation, CMC hopes to share solutions with enterprises. CMC is also providing a total solution, from digital transformation services, cloud computing platforms to specialized solutions for each industry such as Manufacturing, Finance / Banking / Insurance / Securities, Retail, etc.

In Vietnam, digital transformation has begun to take place, especially in industries such as finance, transportation, and tourism, etc. The government and local governments at all levels are making efforts to build e-Government towards digital government. More than 30 cities also plan to build Smart City with new technology platforms. Enterprises, such as CMC, in addition to implementing digital transformation for themselves, plays an especially important role in digital transformation for the business community in Vietnam. Besides CMC, there are also other groups, such as VNG, VCCorp. VNG or VCCorp's digital content products can compete equally with Facebook, and Google products right in the territory of Vietnam, serving Vietnamese people, and even with some victories.

Seen as a leading technology company in Vietnam, VCCorp's products have strong coverage in most fields of technology and Internet such as e-commerce, online advertising, online media, mobile content, social media, etc. More than 90% of Internet users in Vietnam use VC Corp's products every day affirming the richness and diversity of products and fields that not all technology companies achieve.

In2019,VCCorpofficiallyannounceditsinvestmentinthedevelopmentoftheLotussocialnetworkproject.Lotusisadifferentiatedsocialnetworkingplatform,withcontentasthefocus.Thepurposeistocreateaplatformthatenablescreators andindividualstounleashtheircreativityinordertodeliver quality content for users.

INNOVATIVE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY STARTUPS

Duetotheirsize,techstart-upsoftenfindanichetosucceed.Evenso,therolethesebusinessesplayindrivingdigitaltransformationisnotsmallbecauseofthefactthat,thesebusinessesserveuserdigitaltransformation.Smallapplicationshelppeopletoaccessthebenefitsofdigitaltechnologyandtherebygraduallychangeuserbehavior-akey factorindrivingdigitaltransformationinanycountry.InVietnam,somesuccessfultechnologystartupsinclude:Momo,Lozi, Foody,or Websosanh, Coc Coc, etc.

Establishedin2012,Foodyislikealivingdictionaryof foodswithsimpleoperationonphonesorcomputers.Foodyhassuccessfullyraisedfundingfor4times,mostimpressivelyisthesupportfromtheUSinvestmentfundTigerGlobalInvestmentin2015.Uptonow,Foodyisgrowingstrongerandspreadingitsbrand to other markets.

Considereda"follower"withasimilarmodel,Lozimakes itsownstylebycombiningthefunctionofsellingsecondhand goodsandconnectingthesellersandthepersonsinneed.LozientersthetopstartupsinVietnamwhenitraisedhugefundingfromGoldenGatesVenturesandDesignOneJapanInc.Accordingtostatistics,Loziapphasbeendownloadedmorethan500,000timeswithmorethan600,000registeredusersandover 4 million views per month.

MoMo,althoughonlyofficiallyappearedin2018,buthassincequicklybecomethe"partner"ofmanypeoplewholoveonlineshopping.Itcanbesaidthatthisisoneofthemostprominent startupsinthefinancialtechnology(fintech)areainrecentyears inVietnam.Uptonow,MoMohasmorethan10,000businesspartnersinmanyfieldssuchasinsurance,consumerfinance,moneytransfer,payment,e-commerce,shopping,entertainment,transportation,food,andbeverageservices,etc.andtheappisreaching a milestone of nearly 10 million users.

Althoughplayingdifferentroles,itcanbesaidthat,togetherwiththeGovernment,technologyenterprisesareplayingthedecisiveroleinacceleratingthedigitaltransformationprocess inVietnam.AsPrimeMinisterNguyenXuanPhucsharedattheOnlineConferenceonE-GovernmentattheendofAugust, theteamofmorethan50,000technologyenterprisesisnowsoimportantthat"withoutthem,thedigitaltransformationinVietnam may not be able to succeed "./.

Manh Dat