Phi Anh Tuan (centre), Chairman of the HCM City Computer Association (HCA) and CEO of PAT Consulting Ltd, speaks at a meeting about digital transformation held yesterday in HCM City. (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) - Vietnamesebusinesses should embrace digital transformation to remain competitive andenhance their value, heard a seminar on digital transformation held onMarch 21 in HCM City.

Speaking at the event, Nguyen Thu Anh, Director of the Vietnam Digital Economy Centre under the VietnamDigital Media Association’s HCM City branch, said Vietnamese enterprises werewasting their resources and assets by not digitally transforming. 

Digiꦐtisation brings many benefits, includinglower operating costs, more customers i🍷n a shorter time, and quicker and moreaccurate decisions, thanks to timely reporting systems, she said.

Phi Anh Tuan, Vice Chairman of the HCM City Computer Association (HCA) and CEO of PAT Consulting Ltd, said that businessesneed to change their mindset or they will lose in the digital world.

Changing from traditional models to new technologies such as Big Data, theInternet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing will enhance productionefficiency, he said.

Digitisation changes operational and leadership methods as well as workprocesses and corporate culture. It can help enterprises increase their revenueby 30 percent while cutting costs by 30 percent, according to experts.

Phan Thanh Son, technology director at FPT,said Vietnam was using digital transformation in e-government, smart cityprinciples and smart technology.

The Government has also created incentive policies for enterprises to usedigital transformation.

Vu Anh Tuan, Secretary General of the HCM City Computer Association, noted that97 percent of Vietnamese firms are small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),and if they become digital enterprises, they can make a great contribution to society.

However, not all companies in Vietnam are ready for it, he said.

Three factors have prevented companies from digitising, including lack ofskills and resources, cybersecurity and a resistant culture.

The biggest obstacle is that companies do not recognise the problem, Tuan said.

Phi Anh Tuan said that they must start now. “You must jump into the water to beable to learn how to swim.”

Digital transformation has brought great value to businesses, but results canbe derived even from small digital initiatives, which can be completed within afew months, he said.
Companies should attract key digital talentand create a flexible work-source model that lets them tap into skills-basedmarketplaces.

“Businesses need to switch from doing traditional business to doing business ondigital platforms with products and services integrated with technology, mainlyby using robots and artificial intelligence (AI),” he added.

Improving communications, building digital infrastructure and ensuring informationsecurity are also needed.

But the most important aspect is the government, which is the foundation, whiledata is the core, he noted.

Citing the example of Foody.vn website, he said its value was in the hugeamount of data about eating places as well as customers’ foodpreferences. 

“Enterprise value is not only calculated by investment capital, branding andproducts, but also by the value of the enterprise’s data,” he noted.

The seminar was co-organised by the HCM C🅠ityComputer Association, the Vietnam Digital Economy Centre under the Vietnam Digital💫Media Association, the Training Centre for International Cooperation, and the SaigonInnovation Hub.-VNA