Nguyen Dinh Thang, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Association for Information Processing, speaks at a recent digital transformation seminar held in HCM City (Photo: VNA)Tran Phu Lu, director of the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City(ITPC), said Vietnam has some 800,000 enterprises, of which SMEs account for 95percent and contribute 45 percent of GDP.
When the pandemic broke out, over 90 percent of SMEs were affected, with theirrevenues dropping by more than 50 percent, and about 24 percent had to suspendoperations, he said.
“Now digital transformation is no longer an option but a critical need forSMEs. The COVID-19 epidemic forces businesses to transform from traditional tonew economic models with the application of science and technology and newtechnologies.”
Tran Thai Son, an executive at the HCM City Union of Business Associations,said digital transformation is the application of digital technologies toimprove management efficiency, customer experience and employees’ efficiency.
“Customer behaviour has changed… your competitors are adopting digitaltransformation. If you don’t transform your business, you will lag behind.”
SMEs incorrectly think only large enterprises need to embrace digitaltransformation and that it is some kind of miracle that helps transform thebusinesses immediately, he said.
Nguyen Dinh Thang, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Association for InformationProcessing, and chairman of Hong Co Group, said Vietnamese businesses are awareof the importance of digital transformation and have made some investment.However, their transformation has only just begun; many companies are still inthe planning stage.
Lu said a study by the International Data Corporation (IDC) in 2020 in 14Asia-Pacific countries found that SMEs with a high degree of digitaltransformation saw revenues and productivity increase significantly.
It also found that 72 percent of Vietnamese SMEs are seeking to transform tobring new products and services to the market compared to just 32 percent theprevious year, he said.
Delegates at the event said while digital transformation is costly businesses couldchoose technologies that are suited to their demands and budgets.
Vu Anh Tuan, general secretary of the HCM City Computer Association (HCA),said, “Finding an appropriate digital transformation solution is an importantfactor that decides the success of digital transformation.”
Enterprises should not wait until they grow to switch to digital technology,particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic and highly competitive businessenvironment.
Son said enterprises need to identify their objectives and priority areas totransform first.
Thang called on the Government to create a sound legal framework to facilitatedigital transformation.
The seminar was organised by the ITPC and HCA./.
VNA
