In order to fulfill all missions in this Decision, it is necessary to invest in developing technological platforms to support the growth transformation of SMEs.
The Ministry of Information & Communications has recently announced 12 Make-in-Vietnam digital platforms especially for SMEs: MISA ASP – an accounting service platform, Novaon Onfluencer – an online marketing platform; Giga1 – a merchandise distribution platform; VnPay and Momo – two online payment platform; StringeeX – a customer service platform; 1Office – a business administration platform; BizFly – a restaurant and shop management platform; EZCloud – a hotel and recreational spot management platform; CyRadar – a cyber security platform; Consultant Anywhere – a consultation service platform; and Vietnamworks – an online job seeking platform.
Among them, MISA ASP connects accounting service providers and businesses in need. This platform allows the search of suitable service providers anywhere in the nation and the smooth communication between partners. Clients data are safely stored on Cloud for convenient reference. MISA ASP delivers a method for companies to possess non-stop transparent financial reports that satisfy all current legal regulations, which is a foundation for easy loaning procedures from banks and credit organizations.
Another significant platform is Momo, which allows convenient money transfers.
1Office has had an impressive launch thanks to its ability to effectively handle the 6 famous administration tasks of all enterprises in only one platform: business management, task management, human resources management, client management, money flow management, and organization culture building. Until now, 2,000 companies and 100,000 individual clients have chosen it for their daily operation.
One more promising platform is Consultant Anywhere, which specializes in linking businesses to experts in the corresponding fields. It lets those in need communicate with experts anywhere and anytime via functions like appointment making, online payment, document storage, video call making.
According to the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME), there are now around 800,000 businesses nationwide, 98 percent of which are SMEs. When Covid-19 pandemic happens, over 90 percent of these SMEs are severely affected since their traditional markets are narrowed down. To maintain and improve their operation, these SMEs need a proper digital transformation tool.
Sadly, also due to Covid-19 pandemic, SMEs’ investment into the IT and cyber security field seems to considerably decrease. Certain super-small enterprises and household businesses do not have sufficient finance for information safety staff. This means digital transformation to them is unavoidable to survive.
Aware of this situation, the Ministry of Information and Communications has introduced the goal of having 50,000 SMEs going through this transformation in 2021, with at least 30,000 of them experiencing Make-in-Vietnam platforms free of charge.
Incentive policies for these implementations are applied as well, including a 3-month free trial, a one-year contract with 6 more months free (a discount of 50 percent), free training and consultation sessions.