Digital Tech Helps Enterprises to Overcome Economic Crisis

At a recent workshop titled “Overcoming economic crisis with digital technology in the manufacturing sector” hosted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Ho Chi Minh City Branch (VCCI-HCM) in collaboration with EPICOR Group, many delegates said that digital technology can help companies cut costs, enhance performance, improve product and service quality, attract new customers and maintain existing ones.

Innovation and creativity needed to weather the storm

Addressing the event, Mr. Vo Tan Thanh, Vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said that Vietnam’s economy performed quite well in the first two months of this year, featuring a 33.6-fold year-on-year increase in international visitors to Vietnam, a trade surplus of US$2.82 billion and increased public investment. However, a lot of difficulties also became clear when export orders declined. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 4.6%; the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contracted 6.3%; and corporate bankruptcies outnumbered new corporate formations.

The World Bank (WB) recently forecast that Vietnam's economic growth will reach 6.3% this year, lower than its previous forecast, because Vietnam will be heavily influenced by the world economy, which was estimated to slow down due to continued geopolitical competition among major countries and potential risks on financial and currency markets and energy security.

Before this reality, manufacturers can not sit to wait for governmental support, but must improve themselves and be creative to deal with emerging difficulties and digital technology is one of the effective solutions, said VCCI Vice President Vo Tan Thanh.

Digital technology can help manufacturers cut costs, enhance performance, improve product and service quality, attract new customers and maintain existing ones, he said. Specifically, digital technology will boost the competency of managing and checking the entire production process; at the same time, optimize the use of resources such as machinery, equipment, raw materials and labor to reduce waste and raise productivity, enhance flexibility and adaptability to market and customer needs by applying elastic production methods.

Also powered by internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), bigdata or cloud computing, businesses can collect, analyze and use data to support decision making and nonstop improvement, thus enabling them to create products and services with higher added value for customers by focusing on quality, features and user experiences.

Representatives of VCCI HCM and Epicor Group signed a cooperation agreement on a project to support manufacturing enterprises in digital transformation in 2023

Making a roadmap for digital transformation

According to experts, the rapid and widespread boom of digital technology brings diverse choices and poses potential risks and challenges in the application process. Therefore, understanding, evaluating and choosing appropriate and effective technology is the most important in digital transformation in business.

According to international experiences, digital trends in industrial manufacturers are usually divided into two main flows: Discrete manufacturing and process-based mass manufacturing. Whatever stages of the production process where digital technology is applied, most businesses follow the production value chain from which they can determine development strategies, form improvement needs and plan necessary resources to build an appropriate digital transformation roadmap and plan.

Mr. Thanh said that digital technology plays a very important role in the manufacturing sector, therefore, VCCI-HCM coordinated with Epicor Group to develop a project supporting manufacturers to foster digital transformation. This project includes a series of seminars, talk shows and training courses related to digital transformation.

VCCI Vice President Vo Tan Thanh said, businesses participating in the project will have access to the latest know-how about digital technology in the manufacturing sector, as well as free consultancy on building digital transformation strategies and plans. In addition, they can test and use Epicor's digital technology solutions at preferential prices; join the community of digitally transformed manufacturers to exchange experiences and business cooperation. "We hope the project will help manufacturers overcome difficulties and develop sustainably in the digital age” he noted.

Source: Vietnam Business Forum