Digital transformation activities in businesses range fr om digitizing business and management data of businesses, applying digital technology to automate and optimize business processes, management and production processes, reporting processes, coordinating work within the enterprise to transform the entire business model, creating new value for the enterprise. Or we can understand digital transformation as the application of advances in digital technology such as: Cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI). .. into all activities of organizations and businesses.

Digital transformation in businesses is understood as the integration and application of digital technology to improve efficiency in investment and management opportunities and enhance the competitiveness of businesses. The following is an analysis of the challenges and opportunities for investment activities of businesses in Vietnam in the context of digital transformation, in order to have an overall view and help promote the effectiveness of these activities of these Vietnamese businesses in the future, focusing on Vietnam investment opportunities.

Currently, the whole country has about 870 thousand businesses operating with about 97% of businesses being small and medium-sized, and digital transformation activities in businesses have taken place strongly in recent times to meet changes in customer behavior as well as increasing investment opportunities in the new context in Vietnam. A study by the Global Business Center of Tufts University (USA) showed that Vietnam is ranked 48/60 countries with the fastest digital transformation speed in the world, and at the same time ranked 48th out of 60 countries with the fastest digital transformation speed in the world, 22nd position on the speed of digitization development. This has proved a great change in the investment trend in Vietnam to invest in Vietnam of enterprises in this field, highlighting Vietnam investment opportunities.

Opportunities of Vietnamese businesses in the context of digital transformation

Firstly, to improve the efficiency of production activities and investment opportunities of enterprises.

With the help of information and communication technology, the foundation of digital transformation will increase the competitiveness of businesses, allowing companies to easily provide customers with a global presence.Through their websites, small companies can also achieve the same revenue as a large company that would seem unimaginable in a traditional commercial environment. If looked from another aspect, when conducting digital transformation, businesses can quickly respond to customer requests, can provide consulting services, product information, and user instructions for customers, contributing to the overall growth of Vietnam investment opportunities.

Survey results from the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2021 show that social networks are still a channel that brings the highest business efficiency to businesses (in 2020, 37% of businesses highly appreciated business efficiency brought by social networks). Next are the business's website and mobile application, which are two platforms that businesses rate as highly effective at an equal level (23%).

According to a survey by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in 2022, for businesses that are growing and have a need for digital transformation to accelerate, the biggest need of businesses in this period is Analytics solutions, intelligence reports (BI, Big Data, Data warehouse) with 63.5% of total enterprises participating in the survey.

Digital transformation also helps businesses optimize processes, streamlining workflows, digital processes and automated tasks are all ways organizations can create efficiency, exceptional performance and opens up many investment opportunities in Vietnam as well as globally.

Second, expand markets and establish partnerships.

Through the network businesses can communicate directly and continuously with each other. Thanks to that, both cooperation and management are carried out quickly and continuously. New customers and new investment opportunities are quickly discovered in Vietnam and internationally and there are more opportunities to choose from. The annual report on Digital Economy Southeast Asia (SEA) 2020 by Google, Temasek and Bain Company shows that the number of customers participating in digital platforms increased by 41% in Vietnam - the highest level in Southeast Asia currently. Businesses can find 74% of new customers on digital platforms in urban areas, and groups of goods and services traded via the Internet or digital platforms are also increasing in proportion and quantity. Business-to-customer (B2C) e-commerce revenue has also continuously increased over the past 5 years.

Thirdly, helping businesses to redirect production activities and investment opportunities based on digital platforms.

Recognizing the importance of ICT and digital transformation in the new era, the Party and Government of Vietnam are determined to promote the application of ICT in the country's socio-economic development strategies. Specifically: The Politburo passed Resolution No. 52-NQ/TW dated September 27, 2019 on a number of guidelines and policies to proactively participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution with the overall goal of “Effectively take advantage of the opportunities brought by the Fourth Industrial Revolution to promote the process of innovating growth models, restructuring the economy in association with implementing strategic and modern breakthroughs transform the country; Strongly develop the digital economy; fast and sustainable development based on science - technology, innovation and high-quality human resources; improve the quality of life and welfare of the people; Strongly safeguard the nation's defense and security while preserving and nurturing the ecological environment.

In reality, Vietnam recently has shown strong development of financial services such as Mobile Banking, Mobile Commerce, E-Commerce... and service industries keeping up with the 4.0 Industrial Revolution. Infrastructure for digital transformation is also increasingly being improved with efforts from the Government, businesses and people. Vietnam is considered the most dynamic e-commerce market in Southeast Asia with many attractive Vietnam investment opportunities.

Challenges in the context of digital transformation

Firstly, the capacity and resources of Vietnamese enterprises are still limited.

Human resources in digital technology, especially information and communication technology, are still an issue that many businesses focus on but are still a challenge for Vietnamese businesses. Survey results of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2019 show that the proportion of businesses having difficulty recruiting workers with information technology skills still fluctuates around 30% and has not changed significantly (in 2018). 28% of enterprises said that it was difficult to recruit workers with this skill, 31% in 2017 and 29% in 2016. According to a survey by the Vietnam Software and Information Technology Services Association (Vinasa) at Vietnam Digital Transformation Day 2020, 69% of businesses surveyed do not know which partner to choose to implement digital transformation, 72% don't know wh ere to start, 92% don't know how to convert.

According to the 2021 Business Digital Transformation Report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, up to 60.1% of businesses participating in the survey said: In Vietnam, besides attractive investment opportunities, there also exist many barriers that they encounter when applying digital technology is because the cost of investing and applying technology is still high, affecting the cost of investing, deploying, and maintaining solutions for digital transformation.

Second, businesses' awareness of digital transformation is still weak.

The application of technology, especially information and communications technology, in business management activities still has many limitations, many business owners are not fully aware of the role of technology in business management in the context of the digital economy with an increasingly fierce competitive pressure. A special point is that for the past 3 consecutive years, tax declaration is still the online public service most used by businesses and accounts for 88% of the total number of businesses participating in the survey, followed by online public services business registration (accounting for 51% and increasing by 9% compared to 2017). Other online public services such as procedures for issuing electronic certificates of origin, customs declaration... have a very low level of use by businesses.

According to a survey by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in 2022, there are many difficulties in changing business habits and practices of businesses, which are also barriers that businesses encounter, accounting for 52.3% of surveyed businesses. Some businesses have applied software, but employees and workers have not applied it, or only partially applied it, causing the businesses' digital transformation goals to not be as effective as set out, leading to limited opportunities. future investment association in Vietnam in this field.

Third, there are still many concerns in the application of information and communication technology to business activities.

The explosion of the digital economy also puts Vietnamese businesses before many challenges, including legal issues, cyber-attack safety and ensuring user privacy. According to statistics from security firm Kaspersky, in 2017, 35.01% of Vietnamese Internet users were likely to be cyberattacked, ranking 6th in the world. The Vietnam Computer Incident Response Center (VNCERT) said that there was a total of 10,000 cyber attacks cyber-attacks on Vietnam's Internet in 2017, causing a loss of 12.3 trillion VND.

Fourth, the legal system regulating this field is still overlapping and incomplete.

The legal system is still lacking and has not kept pace with the strong development of information and communication technology, or overlaps, leading to low effectiveness. That affects businesses' determination to transition to a digital economy in general and their governance and investment opportunities in Vietnam in particular are more or less affected.