From the bright spot of Project 06
Ms. Thu Minh, 55 years old, a civil servant living in Cau Giay District, Hanoi, has suffered from chronic illness for many years. Every month, she has to visit and get medicine at Xanh Pon Hospital once. Ms. Minh's nightmare is having to queue up to get a number and wait for hours to be examined. But everything changed when she used the VNeID application on her smartphone to register and complete the procedures.
“Not only do I save time and money, but applying technology in life really brings many conveniences and new experiences. I don’t have to wait in line, and medical examinations are much simpler and more convenient,” Ms. Minh shared.
The most visible highlight in digital transformation over the past 2 years is the implementation of the Project on developing applications of population data, identification and electronic authentication to serve national digital transformation in the period of 2022 - 2025, with a vision to 2030, also known as Project 06, chaired by the Ministry of Public Security.
The effective value of Project 06 has brought about step-by-step effectiveness, changing the mindset in management work; changing the habits and working style of the staff and civil servants; cutting down on administrative procedures, saving time and costs for people and businesses.
The impact of digital transformation brings positive changes to social life, changing the daily habits of each citizen. That is, no need to queue up for administrative procedures, citizen identification, driver's license and public services are synchronized on the VNeID application. Or simply like the habit of not using cash, scanning QR code payment on smartphones, which was strange before, now you can buy a cup of iced tea, a package of sticky rice with just one scan of the code.
Expectations in cost reduction, increased production efficiency
In the article “Digital transformation - an important driving force for developing productive forces, perfecting production relations, bringing the country into a new era”, General Secretary To Lam commented: “Artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), big data and cloud computing are gradually becoming important production tools in many industries and fields. Infrastructure, especially digital infrastructure, is being invested in and developed strongly. Telecommunication networks and broadband internet cover the whole country, creating a foundation for the development of the digital economy and digital society”.
Therefore, if we understand digital transformation simply as the application of digital technology to socio-economic activities, we do not fully understand the importance, meaning of digital transformation and its breakthrough values.
In fact, it is this simple understanding that has caused Vietnamese businesses to "grope" digital transformation so far.
The workshop “Digital transformation journey - Breakthrough from small business to big success” held on August 23, 2024 in Ho Chi Minh City, gave the following figures: By 2023, about 47% of Vietnamese enterprises have begun to implement digital transformation steps at different levels and 98% of enterprises expect that digital transformation will bring significant changes in business operations, especially in reducing costs and improving production efficiency. In particular, enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have a high level of readiness for digital transformation. However, it also comes with many challenges.
Mr. Phi Anh Tuan - Head of Digital Transformation for Enterprises at DXCenter - pointed out that the biggest concern of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam is finding a suitable digital transformation model, because there are too many platforms and consultants. If the choice is not right, businesses will waste a lot of time and money.
According to Ms. Dao Thi Hong Le - Director of Tokyo Tech Lab Vietnam, SMEs are facing many challenges when implementing digital transformation activities from investment costs for new technology, lack of synchronous infrastructure, risk of data leakage, shortage of human resources...
“That makes the digital transformation process of SMEs in Vietnam slower than its potential and requires stronger support from the Government and relevant agencies to promote this change,” said Ms. Hong Le.
New milestone to build digital government, digital economy, digital society
Data from mid-2024 shows that Project 06 has provided 25/25 essential public services, helping the state and society save nearly 3,500 billion VND/year. The VNeID application has been well received by people with about 29.3 million visits/month; businesses authenticated ID cards about 500,000 times/month; 100% of students submitted applications and considered priority points through population data... The successful implementation of Project 06 up to this point sets a new milestone for building a digital government, digital economy, digital society and digital citizens.
