“Vietnam software industry has not developed strongly enough to match the vast potential,” Nguyen Trong Duong, deputy head of the Ministry of Information and Communications’ Department of Industry and Information Technology, said, blaming investment policies and procedures.
Little attention was given to trade promotion for the local software industry, he also noted.
According to a current survey of IT applications among local companies, most companies’ investments represented 60 per cent in hardware. Office software like Word and Excel and an insignificant percentage were being used in corporate management.
Le Hoang Minh, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Post and Telecommunications, said that despite strong demand in the local market for software products and services, the country lacks a healthy business environment and a sound legal framework.
“Local software companies have only three years more to prepare for a new but challenging playground as Vietnam has committed to opening its service market by 2010 as part of the WTO entry process,” he warned.
Vietnam’s software industry could not become a real full-fledged industry if a specific direction had not been chartered, said Pham Tan Cong, general secretary of Vietnam Software Association.
To stimulate local market demand, Duong proposed the state draw up policies to encourage the use of local made high-quality software, while setting up software quality evaluation centers.
Organizations and association should post information about corporate capability and software products on the industry portal, he said.
The state should also plan to develop broadband media infrastructure to meet increased demand of not only local software companies but foreign ones that enter into joint ventures with the local software market.
Information technology and communication transaction centers would also be helpful in attracting investment from multi-national groups, he added.
Latest figures released by the Ministry of Information and Communications show that Vietnam has around 750 software companies, 150 of which are involved in software exports. (VNA, Vietnam Panorama)