For the majority of Vietnam’s digital technology firms, Hong Kong (China) is an unfamiliar market and not easy to enter. Many years ago, in addition to the restrictions in visa granting, institutions in Hong Kong pursued a relatively ‘closed’ mindset and just trusted and cooperated with local businesses. 

Language differences were also a problem for Vietnamese firms, because native people spoke Cantonese.

NTQ Solutions digital company believes that it was ‘lucky’ when it quickly found reliable partners ready for long-term cooperation. NTQ just spent one year to find a partner and establish NTQ Hong Kong branch (now NTQ APAC) in 2019.

“Cooperating with native people and creating confidence from partners are the important factors that help to penetrate the very difficult market,” said Tran Ho Phuong, deputy CEO of NTQ Solution.

The Hong Kong market offers great development opportunities to digital technology firms. According to Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), information technology brought revenue of over $12 billion in 2021, which made up 3.3 percent of Hong Kong’s GDP. It ranked second in 2023 Global Innovation Index.

In 2023, Hong Kong began opening its market to many Vietnamese institutions and businesses coming to discuss cooperation and investment. A lot of new opportunities are awaiting Vietnamese technology firms.

“We have helped many Hong Kong agencies organize events and connect Hong Kong and Vietnam businesses,” Phuong said. “If ministries, branches and associations in Vietnam can organize programs for Vietnam’s businesses to go to Hong Kong, or organize forums for businesses to share experience, we are willing to accompany involved parties."

Most NTQ Solution’s clients in Hong Kong operate in the field of finance and banking, which sets very high requirements for technology application system standards.

Banking software systems, for example, must have high quality and high stability with downtime of almost zero. The products and technological solutions must satisfy strict security requirements. 

The director of NTQ APAC is a native worker who has immediately recruited local experts and built a highly qualified core team. The ‘elite warriors’ satisfy the requirements of Hong Kong clients and improve the qualification of the NTQ staff in Vietnam.

In recent years, the tendency of utilizing AI has been growing rapidly in the finance and banking sector. Therefore, NTQ APAC has attracted more experts and increased investment in new technology, and boldly applied new trends in their products and services.

Combining experts in the finance, insurance, and banking industries with AI experts to create key products and services is the cutting edge of NTQ Solution, helping NTQ APAC to realize its $5 million worth of revenue goal by 2026.

“Our big expectation is combining the professional knowledge and skills of Hong Kong’s experts with the advantageous technological capability of the staff in Vietnam to create high quality products, thus helping change international clients’ thoughts about Vietnamese firms’ capability,” he said.

“International clients will understand that Vietnamese firms can also create new products utilizing advanced technologies with high quality. And they will cooperate more with Vietnamese businesses,” he added.

Finding opportunities if you look

Hong Kong (China) is one of NTQ Solution’s three long lasting international markets. The other two are Japan, the core market, and South Korea, which has been growing rapidly.

In the last two years, Vietnam’s digital technology firms have been boldly trying to conquer some new markets, including Europe and the US.

In 2023, NTQ Solution’s Global Development Center (GDC) won the gold prize for excellent digital technology product for foreign markets under the framework of the ‘Make in Vietnam’ digital product award initiated by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).

GDC is a comprehensive solution for foreign companies that want to invest and develop technology in new international markets, including seeking high-quality human resources, developing technology, and implementing projects and R&D.

NTQ’s GDC model has attracted a high number of large corporations to Vietnam to develop technology. From 10 GDCs initially, NTQ Solution has had over 30 GDCs for clients from Japan and South Korea, such as SB Technology and Riman. Of these, five GDCs have 100 workers each and the figure will increase to 200-300 workers.

Phuong went on to say that many Vietnamese businesses are mistaken if they think they can’t penetrate large markets.

Binh Minh