A ceremony was held in Hanoi on January 8 to honour 500 largest enterprises in Vietnam (VNR500) and top 10 prestigious companies in 2020.

The event was co-organised by the Vietnam Report JSC and VietNamNet electronic newspaper.

On the VNR500 list are Samsung Electronics Thai Nguyen Co Ltd, Vietnam Electricity (EVN), Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group (Viettel), and Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex), among others.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said firms in almost all key sectors set digital transformation as a priority strategy, which is pushed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to him, pharmaceutical companies paid more attention to artificial intelligence while travel agencies used digital technology such as augmented or virtual reality to introduce their products.

A survey of the VNR500 companies by Vietnam Report showed that 64.8% of respondents said COVID-19 has pushed quicker digital transformation among businesses, with 19.8% using cloud computing, 19.3% using big data and 7.3% choosing Internet of Things.

Hung added that in the current context, digital transformation plays a significant role, laying a foundation for firms to weather through challenges and grow further.