VietNamNet Newspaper would like to introduce to readers the full text of the speech of Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung at the Conference on Introducing Successful Digital Transformation Models at the Ministry and Sector Level organized by the National Committee on Digital Transformation, June 16, 2024.
PSX_20240616_162853.jpg
Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung: Digital transformation is a change in the way of doing things, a change in the way organizations operate, a revolution in change rather than a revolution in technology. Photo by Le Anh Dung

The Vietnam Digital Transformation Program (DT) has been in its fifth year for four years. The first year is the launch of the DT program. The second year is the nationwide DT rehearsal during the Covid-19 pandemic. The third year is the construction of national digital platforms. The fourth year is the development of digital data. 2024 is the beginning of the fifth year, we will focus on developing the digital economy (DECO) with four pillars: the IT and communications industry, DTECH development in all sectors, digital governance and digital data development.

The past 4 years have given us some valuable experience to determine effective ways of doing digital transformation.

The first is to do a pilot. Do a pilot first, do it thoroughly, until it is successful, then expand it nationwide. Digital transformation must be done 100% nationwide to be effective, but we do not have enough experience, resources, especially human resources to do it all at once nationwide. Therefore, we need to focus on directing the pilot in 1 commune, 1 district, 1 province, 1 industry, and do it thoroughly, do it until it is successful, make it convenient and easy to use, make it effective and do it on a digital platform, then from there expand it and quickly do it nationwide.

The second is using digital platforms. In the IT era, all ministries and localities were decentralized, there were almost no systems or platforms used nationwide. So each place had to do everything from A to Z, which was decentralized, wasteful and difficult to connect. But in the digital transformation era, digital platforms used nationwide appeared, called central platforms or national digital platforms: Investment in one place, hardware in one place, software in one place, operation and exploitation in one place, but use is for everyone nationwide. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify what is central and what is local. The Ministry of Information and Communications will clarify and announce what is central and what is local, so that localities can rest assured that this is what they must do and can do. And ministries and branches must do the central thing.

Third, new things need detailed instructions. Anything new, abstract, technological, and never done before (i.e., still vague) needs detailed instructions at first, like hand-holding, especially the basics, so that digital transformation can spread widely and deeply, be universal and comprehensive. The Ministry of Information and Communications will clarify the most basic things of digital transformation and have detailed instructions: What, how, who will do it and when will it be completed. If we do not start digital transformation in this way, digital transformation will only be successful in a few places. Once the most basic things have been started nationwide, ministries, branches and localities will be confident to do the next things themselves.

Fourth is cooperation with Vietnamese digital technology (CNS) enterprises. Vietnam has many excellent CNS enterprises with enough capacity to help ministries and localities successfully implement digital transformation. For state agencies, CNS is difficult. But for CNS enterprises, it is not difficult. However, CNS enterprises do not know what to do to implement digital transformation for ministries and localities. They do not have expertise, do not know the problems of state agencies, and do not have data. As long as ministries and localities know their problems, know what they want, and provide expertise and data, CNS enterprises will help to implement digital transformation successfully. Whatever the State has difficulty investing in, CNS enterprises can also invest in to provide back to the State in the form of services. The cooperation between ministries and localities with CNS enterprises is for each side to focus on what is easy, and not do what is difficult, leaving it to experts.

The fifth is to find successful formulas to replicate. We successfully pilot and then come up with successful formulas for digital transformation for all fields and levels, so that we can communicate and replicate them. Successful formulas that are concise, true to their nature, easy to understand, easy to follow, will truly be a kind of national strength. For example, the Ministry of Public Security has the formula Correct, Sufficient, Clean, Living when creating a population database; Digital Transformation in Vietnam is Digital Government + Digital Economy + Digital Society ; Vietnamese Architects are Information Technology and Communications Industry + Architects of all sectors + Digital Management + Digital Data ; Digital Transformation for all people is Going to every alley, Knocking on every door, Checking every object, and so on.

The most successful thing is that digital transformation has become a daily working tool for 12,000 officials with judicial titles. Digital transformation will not be successful if it is just a movement. Minister Nguyen Manh Hung

Today, we are here to witness a sector that has achieved initial success in digital transformation, which is the Supreme People's Court. The most successful thing is that digital transformation has become a daily working tool for 12,000 judicial officials. This is the result of 3 years of digital transformation. Digital transformation will not be successful if it is just a movement, it is the result of a continuous process.

From the beginning, the Supreme People's Court has chosen a strategic partner to accompany it. Digital transformation is a journey, not buying a software to use like in the IT era, but developing software for oneself. Digital transformation software is not just written and finished, but will be completed through the process of use. And so, the CNS enterprise alone cannot do it. The Court also does not have the technological force to do it itself. In the digital transformation era, software is always made by two parties, the CNS enterprise and the State agency. They must go a long way together, be strategic partners of each other, and the enterprise must have human resources dedicated to the digital transformation project.

w tro ly ao phap luat 5 1 77.jpg
Judge Le Thi Khanh - People's Court of Cau Giay District highly appreciated the effectiveness of virtual assistants in supporting work. Photo: Minh Son

The State agency must clearly set out the problem for the CNS enterprise, teach the profession, teach the industry expertise to the enterprise, provide data, provide industry knowledge to the enterprise so that the enterprise can develop the product, then directly use the product every day and continuously make requests to perfect the product - that is the requirement for the State agency to successfully digitalize. The software has been written, but making it smarter every day is the job of the State agency. For example, after more than 2 years of the Supreme Court using the digital system, system users have submitted 27,000 difficult legal situations for consultation, and from here, 18,000 standardized situations have been formed and entered into the system for future reference, enriching the knowledge system of the judiciary.

The wisest people in the organization must teach, must transfer their knowledge to digital transformation software - virtual assistants, so that others in the organization can use it. Minister Nguyen Manh Hung

The smartest people in the organization must teach and transfer their knowledge to the virtual assistant software so that others in the organization can use it. When employees use the virtual assistant to solve their daily work, they will discover things that the virtual assistant does not know, then seek knowledge to supplement the virtual assistant. In the later stage, when the virtual assistant has been put into use, the person who makes the virtual assistant smarter is the user. In the early stage, the main role is the smart people, in the later stage, the main role is the user.

IT is the application of technology to automate what you are doing, automate the old things, old processes. In the IT era, technology is the main thing, only needing an IT director, equivalent to the department/office level. But digital transformation is changing the way of doing things, changing the way organizations operate, is a revolution of change rather than a revolution of technology, so it requires a leader. The fact that the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court directly undertakes the first digital transformation project, directly directs the digital transformation of the court sector is a prerequisite for successful digital transformation. In addition, digital transformation of the Supreme Court has focused from the beginning on serving the central target of court officials, creating digital tools to reduce workload, reduce working time, and increase the quality of their work. Digital transformation without the support of officials and daily use of them will not be successful.

The Ministry of Information and Communications would like to express our sincere thanks to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the judiciary for their perseverance, determination and steadfastness in digital transformation over the past 3 years, so that today we have a successful digital transformation model at the ministerial level to replicate nationwide, contributing to promoting the national digital transformation.