Back from the recent World Finals of the 2015 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship (MOSWC 2015) competition in Dallas, Texas, USA, Mr Tong Viet Trung, Viettel Group Vice President, talked with Vietnam Business Forum about the event and why Viettel chose to invest in IT.
Widely known as someone dedicated to the promotion of education and younger generations, your presence in the World Finals of MOSWC 2015 again is a demonstration of that commitment. Can you tell us why Viettel decided to be the premier sponsor for MOSWC 2015?
Viettel, as an organisation operating in the field of telecommunications and information technology in 10 countries, we always considers ICT one of the key drivers for the development of business, the society, humanity and the country. Therefore, besides transforming our business from traditional telecommunications services to ICT services that match society’s growing demand to bring ICT to every corner of life, we are constantly increasing our sponsorship activities for the ICT industry in countries where we invest.
These activities include providing telecommunication infrastructure free of charge or at a preferential rate, funding e-government projects, and sponsoring IT contests, in which MOSWC is one of the projects that Viettel and IIG Vietnam have been participating in for several years.
As the first company, and one from Vietnam, to ‘break the mold’ of the 14-year-old MOSWC competition to become the premier sponsor of the World Finals this year, would you share how the news is received by the international community?
Traditionally, the World Finals has been strictly limited to only two co-organisers – Certiport and Microsoft. As such, a third company being accepted as sponsor for this event is a new feature for MOSWC, now in its 14th year of existence. Actually, the public-private mix adopted in Vietnam for the event has long been highly credited by the organising board.
I am happy to share that the MOSWC 2015 Vietnam organising board has been awarded the Marketing prize of the year from the World MOSWC organising board for promoting productive partnership between regulators and businesses. This is the first model of its kind to be introduced in the 80 countries participating in the World finals this year, and has been much welcomed for its efficacy, and hopefully will become the norm for other countries.
As the person taking the lead in efforts to realize Viettel’s goal of integrating telecoms with support and information technology in day-to-day living, what can you say about the role of information and communications technology in socioeconomic development?
IT obviously has a vital role, especially for service providers with a significant scale and high service quality standards like Viettel. Computerizing every part of the operation will help improve service quality over time, and make it easier for a company to adopt innovation of services, production processes and business models.
IT is a tool for humans to better ourselves, for different communities to interact with one another, for businesses to grow and countries to develop.
So how is IT application taking place at Viettel?
At Viettel, we have been placing great importance on the need to use IT right in the early stages of our development, and we are now proud to have a strong IT base. The IT base I’m referring to includes major systems such as sales, customer care, financial management, human resources management and other governance systems that are linked together.
With the governance tools in place, we can be flexible in what we do as the competition context changes and remain responsive in different markets. The telecoms world is changing fast, as are business models, and we have to be flexible enough in our thinking to adapt to the changing trends.
I hope that in the years to come, from 2015 to 2020, we will complete innovation of the IT platforms at the corporate headquarters to better meet our customers’ needs. This will help us make a difference as we continue to reach more markets in other countries.
Does it mean use of IT will on the one hand help the company to better serve its customers, while also helping improve labour productivity?
Yes. Actually as we have good IT underpinnings, we are more confident to step out into the world and invest in other countries. A strong foundation allows us to customize our operations and strategies based on the specific needs of different markets. We believe that our service quality in all the countries we serve meets the quality standards of such countries, or even higher norms.
Is that why Viettel promotes the use of IT in schools as a key strategy, both in Vietnam and other countries where Viettel operates?
With respect to education, we maintain a position that computerizing the education system will help remove the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in terms of access to quality educational opportunities. Everybody is equal when it comes to access to education. It’s a vital impetus for the socioeconomic development of a country and should start from younger generations.
| The MOSWC 2015 World Finals attracted 80 participating countries. This is the 6th year the Vietnam team participated in the World Finals in the US, and the 5th year in a row it won prizes and was ranked among the top ten winners. Nguyen Thi Hien Gia won the only Bronze for Excel 2010 for the national team. |
Viettel’s free internet services offered to schools are available not only in Vietnam, but in all countries where we operate. That’s what makes Viettel stand out when it does business in other countries. We have very clearly demonstrated our commitments to the society and governments of the countries where we do business. And in return, we get strong support from the customers and those governments.
Can you say something about such operations, outcomes or projects in such countries that Viettel is responsible for?
Notable examples include Haiti and Peru. In Haiti, it’s a story of Viettel’s commitment, as we promised right in the early stage of our operations to provide internet connections for 100 percent of schools and academic institutions in Haiti.
The story with Peru may be a bit different. Since this is very important to them, they even incorporated it as part of the frequency bidding requirements from the outset. So it was both a commitment and contractual obligation as Viettel participated in the frequency bidding, and to date, we have kept our promise, 100 percent in accordance with the requirements of the government and the terms and conditions of the contract. The school teachers and students are very happy to have access to quality services, especially in remote areas where our support is very highly appreciated.
Vietnamese
