The Vietnamese economy was in difficulty but software export still expanded robustly in 2012 and promised to enjoy high growth in the coming time. Many Vietnamese enterprises can handle very complex, sophisticated projects.
Mr Tran Luong Son, Director of international business strategy at Vietsoftware Company, said that his company’s revenues in 2012 doubled from a year earlier, which entailed a huge demand for more staffs. Right at the start of this year, the company has received many new projects with longer time and higher complexity. Many other peers also achieved positive results.
Increase in both quality and quantity
He said software export is expected to maintain strong growth this year on good market development. On the whole, many Vietnamese enterprises can handle projects with higher complexity and expertise than before. “In the domestic market, many big projects are placed at software companies because of increased demand of ICT investment of administrative agencies. This will help improve the market, create new trends and promote more stable growth," Son added.
FPT Software (FSoft) - Vietnam's largest software company - impressed the industry with export turnover of US$81 million, up 30 per cent year on year, and employed more than 4,000 engineers. In 2012, FSoft was the first Vietnamese company to be named a Top 100 global services provider rated by Global Services (India) and NeoGroup (USA) based on the capacity to provide information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO). General Director Nguyen Thanh Lam said the company expected revenue at US$100 million in 2013 and planned to recruit 1,000 - 1,500 engineers a year in the coming time.
He attributed high industrial growth to objective factors. Due to world economic recession, many partners and customers continue slashing expenses and Vietnam has been chosen for its low costs. In addition, Japanese customers tend to shift to the ASEAN region and Vietnam is also eyed. Subjectively, FSoft revised organisational model to exploit local advantages.
Mr Ngo Van Toan, Deputy General Manager of Global CyberSoft (GCS), said GCS designed offices for more than 100 new engineers and open new training centre since the end of 2012. The offshore outsourcing sector is expected to advance 30 per cent this year. “In the past years, the company has gradually asserted its capacity in the software production value chain. Instead of simple tasks and processes, the company has gradually focused on research and design,” he added.
Focus on new technologies
Mr Lam said that FSoft has invested much in technological research and training in order to become a reliable partner and to qualify for more difficult stages and processes of software production, and introduced solutions for partners rather than just do outsourcing. In addition to supplying and developing traditional services such as embedded software, mobile services, medicine and web application, the company will invest resources in new services to keep up with global technological trends such as cloud computing and mobile applications.
Dr Nguyen Huu Le, Chairman of TMA Solutions, said opportunities for software companies are increasing and diversifying because information technology solutions and products are now present in all economic activities. Companies starting from offshore outsourcing now have more choices because of their accumulated experience, financial capability and technology.
After developing many projects for partners and developing mobile applications, TMA Solutions is working with top-notch foreign experts to create its own DNA identity analysis project. "Initiative is not enough because we must understand external reality, technology and output market. Investment for R&D projects is the opportunity for the company to turn out high-tech products for the market,” he shared.
Japan in the limelight
Mr Tran Truong Son said Japanese businesses are widely known for their long time studying their potential partners and this usually distresses candidates. But recently, they have spent shorter time studying their partners. This is a significant progress in outsoaring software for this market.
In 2012, Japan accounted for over 50 per cent of FSoft’s revenue. Mr Lam said this market will still be the company’s main source of revenue in 2013.
FSoft’s major Japanese customers like Hitachi, Panasonic and Fujitsu increase contract value and scope of work. Many in-depth projects, for instance, software upgrade for Hitachi 3D imaging technology - a new technology in diagnostic imaging combined with nuclear medicine. Mr Lam asserted that FSoft will continue this development direction with quality and in-depth projects in order to convince partners to choose Vietnam as a centre for IT and ITO research and development services.
As for GCS, the Japanese market contributes nearly 50 per cent of its revenue which increase 25 - 30 per cent yearly. “Not many software engineers can speak Japanese well while projects from Japanese customers are demanding. If we had better human resources, our business with this market would be much better,” Mr Toan said.
PV
Vietnamese
