The Ministry of Information and Communications in a press release said that Vietnamese businesses understand that digitalisation is a must in the digital technology era. However, for many reasons, the modernisation of financial information remains unsuccessful in the country.
According to a report on business transformation in 2018, 55% of start-ups use digital technology to run businesses effectively, compared with 38% of businesses, helping them increase revenue by 34%.
Big data (58%), mobile technology (59%) personal cloud computing storage (53%) and public cloud computing storage (45%), application program interface (API), and embedded technology (40%) are the technologies mostly utilised by enterprises.
The release said that an industry expert pointed out businesses can avail big benefits by using technology to create, process, and store information.
Firstly, they do not have to use spaces to store documents, so they lease smaller offices and, therefore, save money. Subsequently, the expenses for paper and ink are also lower.
Secondly, with digitalisation, business officers do not have to spend time printing and arranging documents. It also will be easier to look for documents.
Finally, officers will never ‘forget’ documents, because documents are always stored in the cloud and they are accessible anytime and from anywhere.
Digitalisation can be applied in all activities of businesses, which can be implemented in two steps: first, transform physical documents into digital-format ones and second, directly create digital documents, and completely remove the use of paper.
OpenGov reported earlier that the Vietnamese Prime Minister launched an e-Cabinet system that aims to shift governance from a paper-based working model to an electric, modern, transparent, and efficient working environment.
He acknowledged the difficulties in applying the new method of working, which will be overcome by the determination to build the e-government. If the country wants to successfully build a digital-based economy and a digital-based society, it is crucial to build the e-government and the development of the e-Cabinet is the first step, he said.
The government is working toward cutting 30% of average meeting time and using 100% of e-documents (apart from confidential ones) at governmental meetings by the end of 2019.
Automation and business intelligence (BI) are considered tools that will help the digitalisation process the most.
With automation, the work which previously was done manually now can be implemented with computers.
The number of works to be done manually would decrease from the current 48% to 35% by 2030. By 2035, the number of works to be replaced by machines in fields related to production, transport, goods storage, and retail would account for 35-50%.
BI is a technology integration process that businesses use to control the huge data volume from different sources and use data effectively.
However, in Vietnam, some obstacles hinder the implementation of the process.
Digitalisation may lead to big changes in companies’ staff. Some posts may be cut because they can be undertaken by machines.
Another reason is the lack of money. It is expensive to set up a sufficient modern system at once. Therefore, businesses have been advised to choose systems with functions that will be useful to them.
The release said that Vietnamese businesses will need two to three years to overcome these obstacles.