VietNamNet Bridge - Ngo Dong Giang from Hung Yen province and his younger brother spent last week looking for new jobs. They both were taxi drivers for Uber, which has sold its local business to Grab. 


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E-hailing apps are a clear demonstration of a new business model born in the 4.0 revolution



Some of his friends have applied for Mai Linh Bike, others have chosen Grab, and a few have joined T.Net and Vato. 

However, Giang still can’t decide as he has heard that Indonesian Go Jek, another ride-hailing app like Uber and Grab, will arrive in Vietnam. It began recruiting workers in March, preparing to join the Vietnamese market.

Amid the ride-hailing app boom, traditional taxi firms have rushed to use technologies to become app-based taxi firms.

The low awareness has led to confusion among businesses when they see they are losing market share to foreign rivals who use high technologies in production and business. The 4.0 revolution will eliminate businesses slow to adapt to the new circumstances

However, Nguyen Xuan Hoang, vice president of MISA, a software firm, commented the move is too late as foreign apps have already entered the country.

The ride hailing app market was first exploited five years ago, in December 2013. Easy Taxi, a well known app in Brazil at that time, came to Vietnam, but it unexpectedly left the market in 2015.

Hoang said the 4.0 industrial revolution is reaching every corner of the national economy. The main technologies in the 4.0 era are AI (artificial intelligence) & robots; IoT (internet of things); social & mobile network, cloud, and Big Data; virtual reality; blockchain; and 3D printing.

The development of the digital economy may increase GDP in ASEAN by $1 trillion in the next 10 years, according to one research report. 

E-hailing apps are a clear demonstration of a new business model born in the 4.0 revolution. 

In the retailing industry, Amazon has opened ‘no checkout’ shops, using AI to identify customers, and automatically count and deduct money from buyers’ accounts.

In the textile and garment industry, robots and AI can undertake human work in production lines. Robots work in factories with no light, no tea break, and are less costly.

Many people, however, don’t understand the relation between production fields and the 4.0 revolution.

“The low awareness has led to confusion among businesses when they see they are losing market share to foreign rivals who use high technologies in production and business. The 4.0 revolution will eliminate businesses slow to adapt to the new circumstances,” he said. 

“Businesses have to change and create more effective business models, or otherwise, they will be targets for elimination,” he said.


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