Vietnam is considered one of the six countries in Asia which have greatest potentials in providing information technology (IT) services. However, it still needs a push from the State to develop.

Potentials great, opportunities have become

According to the IT Department of the Ministry of Information and Communication, the IT service has been developing very strongly all around the globe. IT services make up 57 percent of the total turnover of the whole industry, while IT firms have shifted from making traditional products to providing new services. In India, IT services bring 50 percent of the total turnover of the IT industry. As for IBM Group, the figure is 70 percent.

ASEAN countries, which have realized the great potentials of the IT services, have been making hectic preparations to get ready to provide services to the international market. The Philippines, for example, has 350,000 workers in the IT services, while India has 300,000 workers in the software outsourcing sector.

In Vietnam, IT services have just begun growing, but have been developing very rapidly. Some Vietnamese firms have become the IT service providers not only to domestic clients but also to the international market.

Vietnam has been recognized as one of the six leading countries in Asia in terms of providing ITO (international technology outsourcing) and BPO (business process outsourcing), namely India, China, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand.

Some international IT groups such as IBM, Microsoft and Oracle have suggested the cooperation plans with the government of Vietnam to build Vietnam up into one of the world’s big IT service centers.

… but legal framework not ready

A report of the IT Department has pointed out that the Vietnamese IT service market has been developing in a spontaneous way because it has not been driven by the state’s regulations.

The Information Technology Law, which took effect in 2006, comprises the general provisions on the IT services. However, the legal documents guiding the implementation of the law do not show clear regulations on the issue.

Since investors lack information about the long term policies for the IT service sector, they cannot plan their long term business. The majority of investors have poured money into developing IT services, but they have just been running after short term benefits, while they don’t strive to a sustainable development.

As a result of the lack of rules, the market has been in confusion, into which big investors dare not pour their money, because they cannot control their investments and the business development. This has made it difficult for the State to manage the IT service market.

Analysts have commented that policy makers have been “behind the times” as they still have not legalized a lot of types of IT services.

Many types of IT services have not been recognized, their names have not been found in the list of the economic sectors and have not been updated in the profession database used for business registration in Vietnam.

In other cases, state management agencies make confused when classifying the types of services, thus leading to big problems in the business registration and putting big difficulties for the state agencies to draw up policies for the new sectors.