This means many issues for IT developers in the start-up ecosystem in Viet Nam must be improved, Nguyen Nhat Quang, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Software and IT Services Association (VINASA), said at a conference held in Ha Noi this week.

The Industrial Revolution 4.0 is changing day by day and reshaping economic and social activities. Building a strong ecosystem that facilitates the development of Vietnamese enterprises in a dynamic and competitive market  is one of the IT firms’ concerns.

Dao Dinh Kha, general director of the Department of Information Technology – Ministry of Information and Communications, said that while IT development in Viet Nam was not a recent innovation, its implementation had encountered difficulties in terms of efficiency. This was reflected in the challenges faced by firms in the upgrading of IT products and in the slow application process, he said, adding that processes for the upgrading of successful products were quite difficult and inefficient.

Systems interconnectivity between State agencies and enterprises is also not as desirable, Kha said. IT businesses are operating in relative isolation, failing to exploit development platforms and appropriate development ecosystems. The scale of products and solutions is becoming increasingly complex, making it difficult to allow individual enterprises to be deployed extensively, he said.

Konstantin Matthies, a consultant for AlphaBeta Advisor, predicted a bright future for the software industry and software developers in Vist Nam, but said the country needed to improve its legal framework to support developers as well as investors.

“The digital economy has provided significant opportunities for Asia-Pacific countries, Southeast Asia and Viet Nam in particular,” Matthies said. “However, for Viet Nam, there is a large room for improvement. To grow a robust developer ecosystem, Viet Nam should focus on cultivating digital talent and a conductive technology investment climate.” — VNS