A corner of the FPT software village in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Zone in Hanoi. (Photo courtesy of FPT) Notably,the company’s technology subsidiaries made major contributions to the results.
FPT,formerly the Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology, is the largestinformation technology services company in Vietnam with its core business beinginformation communication technology (ICT)-related services.
CMCGroup, another company involved in the ICT industry, saw revenues and profitsrise sharply in the second quarter of this year.
Enterprisesbased in HCM City’s Quang Trung Software City (QTSC) reported they continued toadd new customers and markets despite the COVID-19 crisis in the country.
Inthe first six months of the year their combined revenues increased by 5.8 percentto an estimated 4,945 billion VND, and their total exports rose 3.4 percent to 175.9million USD.
Speakingabout the excellent results of the technology companies, analysts said thoughthe pandemic has been devastating on economies around the world, including Vietnam,and businesses, it has created newfound opportunities for some industries.
Thesoftware industry is among the beneficiaries of the crisis, with many companiesin Vietnam doing well, they said.
Accordingto https://marketfinance.com, thesoftware industry has weathered the COVID-19 storm reasonably well.
Whilestay-at-home restrictions and business closures have devastated industries thatrely on physical services and in-person customers (like hospitality, arts andtourism), tech businesses appear to be relatively unscathed.
Infact, with the coronavirus increasing people’s daily screen time by a third,and speeding up businesses’ adoption of digital technologies by several years,the events of the pandemic have led some facets of the software industry toperform better than previously.
Thewebsite pointed out five ways that the pandemic has contributed to acceleratingsoftware development, the most important being digital transformation.
Digitaltransformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of abusiness, which fundamentally changes the way it operates.
Thefour primary areas of digital transformation include technology, data, process,and organisational change, with each domain relying on the other to helpbusinesses establish themselves within the digital economy.
Meanwhile,stay-at-home measures being applied widely around the world have reinforced theimportance of technical infrastructure.
Manytech-focused industries support the rise of digital mediation.
But,it could not be possible without one vital activity, software development, thewebsite said.
Analystsalso pointed out other reasons why the pandemic could accelerate thedevelopment of the software industry, one of which was that the market hadgreater demand for technology services because of it.
Whilethe demand had dropped significantly for most key services, there was greatneed for data and software, and this was expected to continue growing in thecoming time, they said.
Theeconomic slowdown has forced companies in various sectors to focus on what jobsand skills that they really need, and how these roles can be carried outsafely, according to analysts. And they realise that technology plays acritical part in ensuring their workforce can work efficiently and productivelyfrom home.
Theoutbreak has also radically changed people’s consumer behaviour, making themused to ordering groceries online and relying on e-commerce websites andclick-and-collect services.
Asa result, retailers and service providers have had to set up online platformsor use apps if they want to advertise their business, and want their productsand services to reach customers.
Retailershave also had to rely on technology to support no-contact shopping whenstringent social distancing measures were in force.
Manufacturersrelied on apps and digital services to ensure communication with suppliers andsellers to supply chains at home and abroad stable.
Expertsalso pointed out another unexpected impact of the pandemic on the softwareindustry: the increased role of digital technology in the healthcare sector.
Digitalsolutions supported the healthcare system in a number of ways since thepandemic began.
Hospitalshave been using software to provide contactless healthcare services forpatients and create AI applications for managing staff and patients to relievethe work burden, which has been increasing at a tremendous rate as the crisisgoes on.
Governmenthealthcare management agencies use tracking technologies to control thetransmission of the coronavirus, and apps to alert people about their exposureto people infected with the disease and so on.
Edgetechnologies, in fact, havefacilitated healthcare solutions.
Thepandemic has significantly pushed up digital spending at most enterprises andother entities to accelerate digital transformation despite the fact overall businessspending has fallen.
Someinvested in digital transformation for fear of economic conditions disruptingtheir business while others have to harness digital systems to enable theirstaff to work from home, facilitate automation to stabilise production andassist their customers.
Analystspointed out how investments in digital transformation over the past time paidoff during the pandemic, enabling economies around the world to keep runningdespite COVID-19.
Withremote working, enterprises prevent their employees from wasting too much timeon group meetings and water-cooler small talk.
Withthe flexible workday structure enabled by remote work, employees are able toadjust their schedules to their preferences, enabling them to generate moreoutput in an eight-hour working day than they did in office.
Advantages of market
NguyenHuu Le, General Director of TMA Solutions, told DauTu (Investment) newspaper that the US is seeing a strong developmentof start-ups, which requires a large number of IT engineers, thus creating ashortage.
Asimilar need has also been seen in other overseas markets such as Australia andEurope, whose economies are recovering strongly but without their IT workersreturning to resume work after the pandemic.
Thishas created opportunities for IT businesses in Vietnam.
Butanalysts also listed certain obstacles the software industry has been facing.
Oneof the biggest is similar to the problem faced in many countries: a shortage ofhigh-quality human resources.
In2020 and 2021 the software industry achieved two to four times the growthachieved by the economy.
Thishas meant they have constant demand for quality human resources.
RikkeiSoftgeneral director Phan The Dung said the economy would recover strongly soonthanks to the tremendous rate of digital transformation in various sectors likeretail, e-commerce, finance and banking, online education, and healthcare.
Butsince the pandemic was still unpredictable software businesses should preparefor various scenarios to mitigate risks, he added./.
VNA
