New research conducted by DBS found Vietnamese companies have been largely successful in leveraging digital technology to improve customer experience and engagement, even outranking the global average.
Despite Singapore coming out on top, Vietnam (68 per cent) still managed to surpass Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, the UK and the US (global average of 64 per cent).
The results also showed 63 per cent of Vietnamese firms that participated in the study were satisfied that digital transformation was boosting their overall profitability; this sentiment was closely followed by providing improved customer insight (61 per cent) and overall market competitiveness (57 per cent).
Over one third of Vietnamese companies (35 per cent) were also labelled as ‘developing leaders’ regarding their digitalisation of customer engagement and for their potential to reach ‘high transformation performance’ in the future. Just over 10 per cent were categorised as ‘transformation leaders’ as they consistently outperformed the global average for customer engagement digitalisation, while only nine per cent were classified as ‘laggards’.
“Our research findings augur well for Vietnam given its aspiration to become a developed and high-income country by 2045, with digitalisation being a key driver of economic growth. We believe that Vietnam’s ambitions will drive the strategic priorities of forward-thinking Vietnamese companies,” Joo Young Park, Head of Institutional Banking Group at DBS Vietnam, said.
“It is important that these businesses set well-defined goals for digital transformation to capitalise on favourable long-term market prospects and stay competitive. Advancing on digital transformation will also give these companies the agility to embrace new businesses and operating models, and help them adapt to changes in external demand.”
The research also revealed cloud technology (78 per cent) and advanced analytics (65 per cent) were the top two important digital and payment technologies necessary to boost digital transformation. Innovation (65 per cent) and data analytics (59 per cent) ranked as the top two skills and attributes needed to support whole-of-business transformation, while collaborating with banks (43 per cent) was also identified as the preferred model to increase banking innovation and digital transformation within the treasury arm of businesses.
“Building strong internal data infrastructure, developing robust data governance policies, and investing in enabling technology such as cloud and advanced analytic tools, will help the developing digital leaders in Vietnam to realise their potential, and cement the country’s place as a leader in digital transformation,” Park said.