Dubious business leaders eye the digital age

At first, many Vietnamese business people decided to remain outside the “digital technology revolution”. Now firms realize that they cannot be outsiders if they want their businesses to be prosperous.

Hung, 53, is well known in business circles as chair of a big state-owned enterprise. Still, his staff refer to him as “a person of the last century”.

They do so because Hung was unfamiliar with digital technologies. Though Hung is a big client of mobile service providers, he only used a black-and-white screen phone because, he rationalized, that was all he needed. Hung’s partners gave him luxury phones as gifts, but Hung did not use them, because the multiple functions confused him.

A personal computer shop was a strange world for Hung. When someone criticized him his lack of information technology knowledge, he would respond: “I managed the company well in the past, when there was no Internet. You should not rely too much on computers and technology. The most important thing is your brain.”

Still, Hung understood that he encountered problems in doing business because of his resistance to technology. Sometimes the partners asked him for his email address, but he had to admit that he did not have an account.

Just several months ago, Hung’s son, who returned from a western country and is accustomed to the modern world, decided to teach his father.

The training has helped change Hung’s personality. Now he talks clearly and loudly about concepts such as 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4. Finally, he has decided to purchase an iPad, worth more than $1000, for surfing the Internet.

Like Hung, Huy is a successful businessman with many investment deals, but he was listed among business people who “lagged behind the times” because he did not know anything about digital technology. He did not have email or a computer. While his expensive mobile phone had many functions, he only used it to make calls. Huy did not believe that he needed to do care about technology.

A recent event helped Huy change his mind. Some days ago, Huy attended a meeting with many American business people. One wanted to cooperate with Huy in business, giving him his name card and asking Huy to discuss their agreement through email or Yahoo Messenger.

The foreign partner stressed that, due to the differences in time zones, he would be online at 9am, or 9pm Hanoi time. The two sides could talk through Yahoo Messenger until they reach an agreement.

Huy realized that he should not be an outsider in the “technology games”. Upon returning from the meeting, he asked an officer to set up an email account for him and to teach him the main functions of computers. Now Huy has fallen in love with technology. When someone asks to contact him, he replies: “Please email me, and I will reply after the meeting.”

Minh, the general director of a transport company, thought that he should not waste time to study technology. He has email and Yahoo Messenger, but rarely used them. He checked email once a week and never read online newspapers.

Then an incident occurred three years ago. The media in Vietnam reported disadvantageous news about some of his staff, but he missed it because he did not like reading online newspapers. Had he read the news, he could have minimized the impact of the bad news or organized a press conference to offer clear answers.

“Now I understand the power of technology,” he commented. He always works on his mobile phone and surfs the Internet everywhere, on the car, on the way to meetings, or at lunches. He has even become a fan of the advice column of an online newspaper. – VnExpress

Tags: Vietnam digital