Tech

Mr. Laurent Levan, president and general director of URC Vietnam at Hanoi Innovation Summit 2019. As a leading food and beverage player with a growing multinational presence through the ASEAN, China and Oceania regions, Universal Robina Corporation has created a culture of innovation focusing on a digital shift to remain open and adaptive to global trends towards sustainable development. The food and beverage industry has seen growth in recent years by realising and adapting to continuous change in consumer demands. Consumers’ preferences are clearly shifting, and food and beverage brands must evolve with them – and companies where innovation comes from a genuine desire to improve customer experience are becoming the cream of the crop. “Innovation, then and now, has been our key value driver,” Laurent Levan, president and general director of URC Vietnam, highlighted at recent start-up forum in Ho Chi Minh City. “URC is a big company that employs thousands … [Read more...] about URC Vietnam promoting a culture of innovation

Viet Nam is working on a project of national digital transformation which will position itself as a leading digital economy of ASEAN by 2030. — Photo dautuchungkhoan.vn A few days ago, ride-hailing firm Grab unveiled an ambitious plan to invest US$500 million in Viet Nam over the next five years, just a month after it announced an investment of $2 billion into Indonesia. Grab’s investment decisions are manifestations of the potential development of the digital economies of the two ASEAN countries which have “similar characteristics” as stated by Grab’s president. These two nations are seen as holding the most promise due to their youthful, internet-savvy population and emerging middle-class. Vo Tri Thanh Indonesia is set to become Southeast Asia’s largest digital economy over the next few years while Viet Nam is also working on a project of national digital transformation which will position itself as a leading digital economy of ASEAN by 2030. The … [Read more...] about Digital economy for an inclusive ASEAN Community

Enterprise application software provider SAP has announced agreements with a number of partners worldwide that will use the applications to develop their business.– VNS Photo Enterprise application software provider SAP has announced agreements with a number of partners worldwide that will use the applications to develop their business. Accordingly, SingEx Holdings will use SAP S/4HANA cloud to help drive the transformation of its global finance operations as the company continues to grow across international markets. This software solution will help SingEx build a robust global finance system that will support its expansion into China, UK, India and Southeast Asia. In another development, Standard Chartered Bank and SAP Ariba announced a strategic collaboration to make the bank’s financial supply chain solutions easily accessible to businesses in the Asia Pacific region through the Ariba network, a large digital business network connecting more than 4.2 million companies … [Read more...] about SAP provides software solutions to partners worldwide

The Ministry of Finance builds a draft of the scheme on management of e-commerce activities to ensure the State's comprehensive management for this field. — Photo tuyenquang.gov.vn The Ministry of Finance is building a draft scheme on the management of e-commerce activities for imports and exports. The draft aims to improve State agencies’ efficiency in control of e-commerce activities to stop tax evasion, violations of regulations on commodities, intellectual property and origin, and transporting banned goods to Viet Nam and vice versa. It also offers solutions to develop Viet Nam’s e-commerce activities, such as simplifying customs and specialised inspection procedures, aiming to protect the interests of manufacturers, traders and consumers. However, due to limited human resources, time and funding, the draft focuses on solutions to control and facilitate trading on e-commerce trading floors or websites. The project does not cover sales on applications such as Zalo … [Read more...] about Viet Nam to enhance management of e-commerce activities

According to a report by Google and Temasek, the size of the Vietnamese e-commerce market will increase by 5.3 times in the next seven years from US$2.8 billion in 2018 to $15 billion in 2025. — Photo baomoi.com As the Vietnamese e-commerce market booms, businesses still face many challenges to stay afloat. This statement was made by Matthew Heller, director at Google-Channel Sales South East Asia and India, at the "E-commerce Day 2019" seminar organised by Novaon Internet Corporation and Google, attracting more than 400 e-commerce businesses in the northern region. According to a report by Google and Temasek, the size of the Vietnamese e-commerce market will increase by 5.3 times in the next seven years from US$2.8 billion in 2018 to $15 billion in 2025. Speaking at the event, Matthew Heller said e-commerce has been growing at a dizzying rate of more than 43 per cent per year. The proportion of e-commerce revenue in the entire retail channel will increase from 3 per cent in … [Read more...] about Firms face challenges as e-commerce booms

Vietnamese start-ups raised a total of US$246 million during the first half of 2019. — Photo fintechnews.sg Viet Nam jumped from fifth to third in the list of most active start-up ecosystems in the six largest ASEAN economies in only two years. The change was from the first half of 2017 to the corresponding period of 2019, with the country trailing only Indonesia and Singapore. According to the Vietnam Tech Investment Report released recently by Singapore-based venture capital firm Cento Ventures and Viet Nam’s early stage venture fund ESP Capital, the amount of invested capital and the number of technology deals done in the country have grown six-fold in the period. The report showed local start-ups raised a total of US$246 million during the first half of 2019. Of which, the three largest investments, including Tiki, VNPay, and VNG, captured 63 per cent of the funding. In terms of sectors, key blocks of the digital economy such as retail and payment accounted for almost … [Read more...] about Viet Nam ranked third most active startup ecosystem in ASEAN

Small and medium-sized businesses need to pay more attention to cybersecurity, according to experts. — Photo courtesy of Kaspersky Digital transformation is creating opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses in Viet Nam but also bringing new risks, according to experts. SMBs account for 98 per cent of all enterprises and 40 per cent of GDP in Viet Nam. In the digital era information systems play a very important role in the operation of companies, but holding a large volume of customer information makes businesses a target of cybercrime. Cyberattacks put firms’ money, data and IT equipment at risk. If a hacker gains access to one firm’s network, they could do a lot of damage with what they find, such as access to client lists, customer credit card information, the company's banking details, and others. Cyberthreats are a problem not only for large corporations and governments but also SMBs. Research shows that globally 22 per cent of small businesses have … [Read more...] about Cybersecurity important for small businesses too: experts

Attendants visit booths displaying computing and internet security solutions at a seminar on August 14. Viet Nam is one of the top 10 countries in terms of internet attacks in the first half of the year. — Photo ictvietnam.vn The Authority of Information Security under the Ministry of Information and Communications has warned of two security breaches that exist in Remote Desktop Services of the Windows operation system (OS). According to the authority, the two breaches may allow hackers to attack from distance, install malware and take control of the internet-connected computers. If one computer on the network is bugged, malware may infect other computers on the network automatically. Data from the authority shows that more than 22,000 computers in Viet Nam use Remote Desktop Protocol to connect to the internet. If the computers’ OS is not patched, those computers will become the ideal targets for hackers. Other breaches have also been discovered by Microsoft – the … [Read more...] about New security breaches found with Windows OS

Digital transformation has caused the emergence of new business models such as Grab, Sendo and Shopee. — Photo ndh.vn Information and technology (IT) firms will lead the country’s digital transformation in all sectors, said Phan Tam, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications (MIC). Speaking at the Viet Nam CEO Summit 2019 held in Ha Noi on Thursday, Tam said the Fourth Industrial Revolution would create breakthroughs for countries which take advantage of its opportunities. “The Vietnamese Government advocates fully tapping opportunities from Industry 4.0 in service of national digital transformation, making it easier for Viet Nam to escape the middle-income trap and become a modern industrialised nation by 2045,” he said. He added that developing the digital economy would be one of the key tasks to promote economic restructuring and renewal of the growth model. The digital transformation would increase information and data access to bring new business … [Read more...] about IT firms expected to lead country’s digital transformation

Chris Berg, Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University’s Blockchain Innovation Hub, makes a presentation at the seminar. — VNS Photo Phuong Thao In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, blockchain is increasingly known as a technology with great potential applications around the world as well as in Viet Nam. The statement was made by Chris Berg, Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University’s Blockchain Innovation Hub, at a seminar held in Ha Noi on Thursday. Berg defined blockchain as a consensus over the contents of a shared programmable ledger through the use of economic incentives. Blockchains are new economic infrastructure, a tool not just for facilitating trade but for creating new economies, with cryptocurrency and cryptoassets instead of money or value; code and protocols replacing rules; smart contracts to replace the traditional ones. With features such as the ability to handle a large number of transactions and indelible security, blockchain is … [Read more...] about Blockchain a new economic infrastructure for banking and finance