Vietnam: Most favoured partner of Japan

The report prepared by the Vietnam Software & IT Services Association (VINASA) said that a recent survey of Vietnam IT businesses showed the overwhelming majority of them have recently contracted to do outsourcing for Japanese business partners.

With regards to the report, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Hung, said at a recent business forum that two major issues continue to plague the local IT industry.

Vietnamese firms continually fail to meet the strict quality standards of Japanese firms, said Deputy Minister Hung and they are laggards at developing a long-term strategy to develop their human resources potential.

If these conditions were properly dealt with, local firms would have a tremendous opportunity to profitably expand IT outsourcing with Japan, Deputy Minister Hung underscored.

Attractive human resources

In addition to its advantages in culture, the lower salaries and wages in Vietnam are highly attractive to Japanese firms, noted Nguyen Doan Hung, president of a Vietnam-Japan IT Business Club.

But unfortunately, he said, there is a shortage of qualified people who can speak the Japanese language, which creates a barrier to expanding the IT services Vietnamese firms perform.

The problem is further complicated said Junko Kawauchi, vice president of the Japan Information Technology Services Industry Association by the size of most Vietnamese IT firms.

They are simply too small and lack the human resources to carry out big projects.

To solve the dilemma Deputy Minister Hung said the government has a hi-tech park on the development schedule that will possess the latest software and infrastructure and be specifically aimed at boosting Vietnam and Japan outsourcing.