(Photo: tapchitaichinh.vn)

The World Bank statistics show that the current number of Internet users in the world is 4.3 billion people, or 57% of the world's population. According to the statistics, 5.1 billion people are using mobile devices, and 3.2 billion people are using social networks. The huge data creates opportunities for enterprises in the context of digital transformation.

With the development of artificial intelligence and cloud computing, the digital transformation of businesses is irreversible.

Bui Quang Tuan, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics, said: “Keeping pace with the world’s digital transformation is very important for Vietnamese enterprises. Vietnam is changing its growth model from depending on low-cost labor and natural resource exploitation to promoting efficiency, competitiveness, innovation, and creativity. Businesses should change their mindset to participate in the digital transformation, in the form of digitization and trading on digital platforms."

According to Microsoft's research, the transformation will help businesses increase productivity. In 2017, for example, digital transformation helped increase productivity 15%. The figure is expected to increase 21% by 2020.

Vietnam has about 700,000 private enterprises, 98% of them are small and medium-sized enterprises. But only half of domestic businesses have been aware of the effect of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Only 6.6% of Vietnamese enterprises said they have sufficient resources for complete transformation while nearly 35% said they can transform slowly due to insufficient resources.

This reality requires private enterprises to upgrade their infrastructure and IT application based on their economic conditions. They are advised to focus on digitizing key production and trading activities and deploying smart applications like Internet of Things, cloud computing, and robot.

Dao Minh Phuong of the Technology Company of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group said digital transformation is one of key factors helping the group restructure successfully and grow at a rate of 20% over the past 5 years. 

“VNPT is one of the leading companies in digital transformation. We have been providing support and consultancy to many businesses, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, in digital transformation. VNPT hasn’t met any difficulties in digital transformation. But businesses face many problems particularly in terms of awareness and use of IT, making it hard for them to applyartificial intelligence or block chain,” said Phuong.

Businesses’ efforts and the State’s practical support are crucial for businesses’ growth. Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dinh Thien said: “In terms of vision, Vietnam must consider the strategy of science and technology towards a digital economy the core in the National Development Strategy. We haven’t got a prompt business development strategy. The strategies on science and technology and business development need to go hand in hand. I hope businesses will become more determined in the move to speed up digital transformation.”

Studies by Google and Singapore’s Temasek show that Vietnam's digital economy reached about 9 billion USD last year and is forecast to reach 30 billion USD by 2025. Another study by Data 61, Australia's leading data innovation group, reveals that Vietnam's GDP could increase an additional 162 billion USD in 20 years if Vietnam can conduct the digital transformation successfully.