Software and digital content developers face tough time

More than 1,000 domestic software and digital content companies will face a hard time on their home turf if they do not improve their capacity to adhere to international standards, according to IT experts.

According to a Viet Nam Software and IT Service Association (VINASA) report, total sales revenue from software and digital content in Viet Nam last year reached US$2 billion.

Compared to countries like China, South Korea, the USA, and Japan, Viet Nam is still too small. The development of software and digital content businesses remains quite arduous with their main revenues mainly coming from small-scale outsourcing services.

Dang Thi Dieu Huong, managing director of HanoiCTT said to overcome the limitations, domestic software and digital content developers must adhere to international standards. Therefore, the concept of capacity maturity model integration (CMMI), developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), has been constantly referred to in Viet Nam for several years. It was seen as an “important passport” for domestic businesses to improve their capacity performance and competition to reach the world market.

The Government is willing to financially support construction and production processes in line with CMMI standards, but the internal resources of enterprise themselves remained a barrier.

Viet Nam was one of the few countries in the world strongly supporting businesses to get the CMMI certification. Many countries like India do not have the budget to support businesses operating in the field of software and digital content sector, according to Aru David, CEO of ECCI Group in Viet Nam which involves directly consulting and training domestic businesses to apply the CMMI standard.

Analysts said that with the current circumstance, about 10 local firms claim to achieve CMMI standards. Of them, only FPT Software and TMA Solutions reached CMMI at level 5. Therefore, the aim to export their products of around 1,000 businesses in the field of software and digital content in Viet Nam in the next few years will still be extremely difficult. They are facing a hard time right at the home with great competition from local powerful businesses.

To solve the problem, the Management Board of IT projects is urgently working to report to the Ministry of Information and Communications to support other adaptive international standards, said Nguyen Thanh Tuyen, deputy director of Information Technology Department of Ministry of Information and Communications.

According to Tuyen, the project will assist local businesses in making the manufacturing process in accordance with CMMI standards approved by the Government from 2010 to 2012. It has disbursed VND20 billion ($961,000), accounting for a half of the total VND60 billion ($2.8 million).

One of the major difficulties in implementing the project is to find eligible enterprises to participate in obtaining CMMI certification. But the fact is, until now, most businesses in the country have been small-scale enterprises, which focus on outsourcing with limited human resources and capital, Tuyen said. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam software industry