A panel discussion as part of the Vietnam Data Summit that was held in HCM City on June 24. — VNS Photo

In the digital technology era, data analysis has become one of the leading technologies, capable of changing many aspects of the world, especially in the business field.

Therefore, taking advantage of new technology to improve the competitiveness of enterprises is essential for future growth. However, not all businesses know how to process available data into useful information, delegates told the first Vietnam Data Summit held in HCM City on June 24.

Lâm Nguyễn Hải Long, president of the HCM City Computer Association, said, according to statistics at Internet Day 2021, Việt Nam is among the Top 20 countries with the highest number of Internet users in the world. Internet penetration in Việt Nam stands at 70.3 per cent compared to 51.4 per cent on average in the world. Therefore, Việt Nam is considered to be the most promising Big Data market in Asia.

“However, the exploitation of Big Data in the country is still not commensurate with its potential," Long said.

“Once firms make the most of data, they will have greater chances for success,” he said.

Companies that have started treating information as an asset would have a competitive advantage, he added.

Trương Bá Toàn, country general manager of Western Digital Việt Nam, said, “digital transformation plays an important role in the development of a country and a business. Among the five most important factors in digital transformation are data and analytics. When data is unlocked and properly exploited, it will help businesses make breakthrough developments.”

Võ Thị Trung Trinh, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Information and Communications, said the city had identified promoting an all-round digital transformation as one of the most important tasks to develop the local economy.

It was focusing on building shared and open databases and linking all databases related to governance, she said.

She expected the business community to share ideas to help the city use and apply data more efficiently.

Toni Kristian Eliasz, senior digital development specialist at the World Bank, said government support was increasingly crucial in enabling the digital transformation.

“Harnessing data for value creation will require enabling data sharing, transparency, privacy and dynamic digital markets.

“Data sharing remains limited due to legal, technical and institutional challenges. Compared to peers, Việt Nam has been able to develop a reasonable cybersecurity response to minimise risks but there are concerns about privacy protection and having a too restrictive environment for digital businesses,” he said.

According to Albert Antoine, CEO of Avaiga, data is everywhere, and it is exploding.

Every interaction in the digital world generates massive data that can provide insights and inform better, faster decision-making for organisations and businesses.

However, not many firms know how to extract value from their data sources.

To capture value from data, businesses need to clean, combine, and prepare internal and external sources with an infrastructure tailored to their needs.

They need to foster collaboration among all profiles, from data science to business users and be conversant in the language of data, while also ensuring transparency and proper governance.

Organised by HCA and Western Digital Việt Nam, the summit also discussed building a data processing team for businesses, and case studies from businesses that have successfully exploited their data pool.

It also featured a ‘Data Room’ where experts can provide SMEs and inpiduals with free consultancy on building a data culture, how to utilise data to drive digital transformation, data processing, and human resource development.