Seventy-four per cent of survey respondents from Vietnam said their business or employer had a digital strategy, compared to the Asia-Pacific average of 63 per cent. This is contributing to Vietnamese businesses having good levels of technology adoption, with the key benefits being improved operational efficiency, enhanced employee satisfaction and improved cybersecurity, according to the 2024 Business Technology Report.

CPA Australia’s regional head for Southeast Asia, Priya Terumalay, said, "Better business outcomes far outweigh any hesitation over technology adoption despite the financial cost and low return on investment remaining a key challenge, especially for smaller businesses."

An impressive 98 per cent of Vietnamese businesses cited improved operational efficiency as a key benefit from their technology investment, while improvements to cybersecurity stand at 91 per cent and improvements to the customer experience at 87 per cent.

"Vietnamese businesses place a high level of importance on the accuracy, security and privacy of the financial data they hold," said Priya.

Close to three quarters of businesses gave this the highest level of importance. Data security and privacy are essential to a business’s reputation, and data quality is critical to the effectiveness of AI and other technologies.

One of the key barriers to technology adoption in Vietnam is the shortage of technology talent.

"Many local businesses are responding to the talent shortage by upskilling and reskilling their existing employees and investing in automation rather than adding new employees," Priya added.

Forty-six per cent of respondents invested in upskilling the technology capabilities of their entire team, including the board, against the survey average of 40 per cent.

Nearly eight in 10 Vietnamese businesses said they used AI in the last 12 months, compared with the survey average of 69 per cent. While most businesses only use AI some of the time, this is likely to change in the coming 12 months as local businesses nominated AI as the technology they are most likely to increase their use of.

"It’s not surprising that Vietnamese businesses are looking to increase their use of AI. Most users say that it improves their business by increasing productivity, automating repetitive tasks and improving the accuracy of those tasks."

"Change is everywhere in Vietnam as more investment pours in. Businesses must be quick to adapt and improve their capabilities to take advantage of this environment, and technology, especially AI, is fundamental to that."