Hanoi (VNA) – While digital transformation is expected to help businesses boost productivity, cut costs and enhance competitiveness, for many small firms, digitalisation is driven more by regulatory compliance pressures than by their strategies.
Over the past two years, amid the drive for administrative procedure reforms and digital government, businesses have been striving to satisfy a series of digitalisation requirements such as applying electronic invoices, digital signatures, electronic tax declaration and payment, labour reporting, social insurance, and data connection with regulatory agencies.
For large businesses with well-structured governance systems and sufficient financial resources, this process is relatively smooth. But for small ones – which account for over 95% of all operating businesses, digitalisation is a stressful "sprint".
Nguyen Van Khoa, Director of a 30-employee distribution and trading company in Hanoi, shared that the implementation of digital systems did not stem from the need for restructuring or improving governance efficiency, but simply because without it, they could not continue operating.
For small businesses, digital transformation is primarily about meeting requirements to survive, he said.
One of the biggest pressures facing small companies is the cost of digitalisation, including both tangible and intangible costs. Besides initial investments in accounting software, electronic invoicing, and digital signatures, they also have to pay for annual maintenance, implementation consulting, staff training, and even troubleshooting when systems don’t run smoothly.
Le Thuy Linh, owner of a tea production facility in Tan Cuong commune, Thai Nguyen province, said when adding all up, the annual digitalisation costs for her business are equivalent to the salary of a skilled worker. For large businesses, that figure may be insignificant, but for small firms, it's a problem they have to solve.
Notably, the biggest cost doesn't necessarily lie in the software itself, but in the risk of error. A data formatting error or a small discrepancy in electronic declarations can lead to administrative penalties, forcing businesses to both rectify the problem and provide explanations for authorities.
Unlike in the past, when the transition to the single-window mechanism was conducted manually, digital transformation is now taking place amid high compliance requirements and increasingly clear penalties.
Many small businesses admit that they embark on the digitalisation process with the understanding that "no mistakes are allowed". This inadvertently turns digital transformation, which should be a process of learning and improvement, into a potential legal risk.
Businesses said the problem lies not in the digitalisation policy itself, but in the speed and method of implementation. Small companies have almost no time to learn and experiment, while their technology adoption capacity, human resources, and finances are all limited.
The Government’s Resolution 02/2026/NQ-CP aims to further improve the business environment, reduce compliance costs, and place businesses at the centre of service delivery. However, from the perspective of small businesses, the gap between policy and practice remains significant.
Proposing a more suitable roadmap be implemented, Cuong suggested that in the initial phase, a certain extent of technical errors should be allowed, and specific guidelines provided for businesses instead of immediately imposing penalties.
Small businesses perceived that for digital transformation to truly become a growth driver, it is necessary to standardise and synchronise digital systems across regulatory agencies so that businesses do not have to repeatedly enter data. At the same time, technical support tailored to business sizes is needed, not just through written guidelines, but through substantive consulting and training.
Linh pointed out that digitalisation is an irreversible trend, but if businesses only view it as a compliance obligation, they will simply go through the motions. In that case, it will be very difficult to secure increased productivity and competitiveness.
From the perspective of a regulatory agency, a representative from a unit in the field of administrative procedure reform stated that technical errors are unavoidable during the transition process.
Authorities' viewpoint is to increase guidance and support to help businesses do correctly and gradually become familiar with new systems, rather than creating unnecessary pressure, the representative noted./.
