The Vietnam opportunity
A consortium of Singapore IT companies is exploring the viability of the "build, own
and operate" model in Vietnam as part of a wider push to develop e-government
collaboration opportunities with the country's government agencies and companies.
HANOI - A consortium of Singapore IT companies is exploring the viability of the "build, own and
operate" model in Vietnam as part of a wider push to develop e-government collaboration
opportunities with the country's government agencies and companies.
The consortium, led by Cisco Systems, took part in a Vietnam E-Government Symposium in
Hanoi last week. It comprised CrimsonLogic, National Computer Systems (NCS), Singapore
Computer Systems (SCS) and Stratech Systems.
Speaking at the symposium, Dr Mai Liem Truc, standing
vice minister, Ministry of Posts and Telematics of Vietnam,
described infocommunication technology (ICT) as an important
enabler for socio-economic development in Vietnam. The
government is "strongly committed" to using electronic means to
improve its efficiency, he said.
He cited examples of possible e-government applications such as
electronic tax payment, online licensing, online customs and applications related to land
about putting information on the web site, but also the automation of complex
administrative processes, he said.
However, he acknowledged that Vietnam was still at the early stages of its e-government
initiative and that -Singapore government agencies and companies could play an important
role in sharing their experiences with Vietnam and possibly in the execution of some
projects at the government and local level.
Representing the Singapore consortium, Bill Chang, regional managing director, South Asia,
Cisco Systems, said Singapore's best practices could serve as "ammunition" for the
consortium companies to gain a foothold in Vietnam, a country which he described as one
of the fastest growing markets for Cisco.
"We are coming in with the right ingredients, with the full ecosystem. It's about connecting
with the right people in government, and the right business partners," he said.
One of the key challenges in doing business in Vietnam, however, is funding. Chew Lih
Wee, principle consultant of the eGovernment Practice at SCS, noted that the "build, own
and operate" model could be one way of funding the projects.
With private and public collaboration in place, it will enable all parties to co-share the risk,
she said.
V Mathivanan, chief executive officer of CrimsonLogic, said Vietnam is very much an
"SME-based country", and the ASP (application service provider) model presents an
affordable option for businesses to connect to government services, and for the
government to recoup part of its investments in the system.
CrimsonLogic offers ASP services for the processing of trade and legal documents
(TradeNet and LawNet), amongst others.
Mathivanan believes that it would be possible to introduce egovernment services in phases,
instead of waiting for Vietnam's infrastructure to be fully developed.
Currently, Vietnam's Internet penetration stands at two users for every 100 inhabitants. In
terms of telephone usage, the density of 7.7 lines for every 100 inhabitations.
According to Mathivanan, it would be possible to start with the automation of backend
services and to begin rolling out e-government services before 100 per cent of the
infrastructure is up. "There is a large rural base but you have post offices and community
centres that can serve as 'service bureaus'," he said.
Where some government agencies are automated and others are not, interfaces can be
built to support manual processes. "You're not looking at a big bang approach. Take it one
step at a time."
James Yong, senior director of Institute for Insights & Innovation, NCS, and editor of the
book E-Government in Asia, said by tapping on the Singapore experience, Vietnam has the
opportunity to leapfrog the e-government development process and not go through the
same mistakes.
Mathivanan agreed. "What took us 20 years, they may take five," he said.
By Tan Ee Sze - Computerworld IDG (.sg) - August 01, 2003.
|