Mr. Hoang Minh Chau, Deputy General Director of Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT), in an interview with VIB Forum Magazine answered questions about his corporation’s business achievements and IT-related matters in Vietnam prior to the WTO entry.
Can you briefly talk about FPT’s outstanding business results in 2005 and its development strategies in the coming years?
In 2005, the FPT turnover reached VND8,210 billion (equivalent to US$517 million), an increase of 61 per cent compared with that in 2004. Of the sum, the software and service revenues were VND698 billion (US$43.63 million), an on-year rise of 87 per cent. In particular, the software export value reached VND135 billion (US$8.44 million), representing an increase of 145 per cent against 2004. In 2005, FPT paid VND810 billion (US$50.63 million) to the State Budget, up 29 per cent compared with 2004. Regarding human resources, FPT now has more than 6,000 employees aged 26.91 on average. FPT has set a goal to bring in US$1.3 billion revenues and employ 16,000 staffs by 2008.
Can you give further details in the FPT major operating strategy in the coming time?
The software outsourcing and export will remain a strong point of FPT. The workforce of FPT has grown strongly in the latest two years. FPT Software alone had up to 1,500 employees as of June 2006. The strategic software development orientation of FPT is to provide software outsourcing services, deploy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications, testing services (QA Test) and embedded system services (ESS) for international clients. The objective of the group is to earn a total software turnover of US$50 million and a total software workforce of 5,000 employees in 2008.
Internet and its value-added services remain prominent business fields of FPT. By 2010, FPT will build and develop into a leading Vietnamese hi-tech firm of IT, internet and hi-tech services. Besides, FPT will develop and put into use internet-based e-commerce systems. Notably, FPT was licensed to pilot the WiMax service on 2.3 GHz and 3.3 GHz frequency bands and is implementing this new service. The provision of games online (MU and PTV), the construction of copyright music system (nhacso.net) and the supply of TV service and other utilities services through internet (IPTV) are value-added services of FPT for domestic clients.
FPT University will train and supply IT human resources for FPT itself and other IT firms in the country. For the time being, the group is completing procedures to enrol first students for FPT University. In the near future, FPT University will train in three fields of software technology, multimedia arts and communication network administration. In the first academic year, the university will enrol 200 university-levelled students and 300 college-levelled students. In the first four years of operation, the number of students will be 5,000, including 2,000 at the university level and 3,000 at the college level. Currently, FPT is building a software production factory and training human resources at Cau Giay Industrial Complex – the future headquarters of FPT University. Besides, the university will have a branch in Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park.
What are the difficulties and advantages of the IT industry? What experience could FPT share with others?
Around the world, IT is a new industry; hence, it has no Vietnamese peculiarities. Almost all industrial and commercial criteria are international. Therefore, the IT industry is at an advantage in the international economic integration process. Further, the IT industry, in reality, has got integrated for many years when the Government allowed the development of the internet service, permitted the international cooperation, applied import-export tax policies on software products and reduced import duties on hardware products.
As regard difficulties, like other industries, the IT industry has all types of difficulties: a workforce with a bad command of foreign languages, little international experience, low skill level, insufficient understanding of international law and commercial practices and unprofessional processes. We lack necessary international cooperation for the globalisation process.
For FPT, we began our globalisation process in 2000. Since then, we have obtained important achievements such as building international quality processes, training a marketing workforce capable of working in different international environments and building up a software export workforce with thousands of staff. In particular, we have set up important relationships with professional associations and international hi-tech firms.
Van Luong
Vietnamese
