Ups and downs on the journey to conquer the Japanese market 16 years ago, after graduating from the Military Technical Academy, Bui Manh Khoa went to Japan as an electronics and telecommunications engineer. Working for a Japanese company for about 5 years, he went on to graduate school, got a Master's degree and then a PhD at a University in Tokyo, then "joined" a number of IT companies in Japan. In 2019, at the invitation of a close brother, Khoa joined the first group of members to build VMO Japan, a member of VMO Holdings.

Director of VMO Japan's Fukuoka Branch Bui Manh Khoa. Photo: Binh Minh

“In December 2019, when we established VMO Japan, it was also the time when the Covid-19 pandemic began to break out. The first year was really difficult. The director and we personally had to meet each customer to introduce products and services. However, the first 3 customers all “gave up halfway” because we were “newbies” and had many problems that we were still confused about,” Mr. Khoa shared a memory that he said he “will never forget”. There is a folk saying “three times is enough” which means that if you fail 3 times in a row, you should stop and find another direction. However, the VMO Japan team thought differently and did differently. With the spirit of not being discouraged when facing difficulties, both the department directly in contact with customers in Japan and the “on-duty” department in Vietnam ready to support the sales process tried their best. The fourth customer revived the confidence and motivation of young Vietnamese people. “Of course, when all three of our first customers turned away, we were very disappointed. But every time we thought about stopping, the director of VMO Japan and the leaders of VMO Holdings encouraged us: Keep trying, one more time. And then we were able to overcome the initial difficult period and have more customers,” Mr. Khoa recalled. The Japanese have a very detailed and meticulous working style, and are often ranked among the most “difficult customers” in the world. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese are quite easygoing. Therefore, it is difficult to avoid disagreements in the early stages of cooperation. To have long-term cooperation, Vietnamese businesses need to adapt and gradually modify their processes to suit the requirements of Japanese customers. “Not only do Japanese customers have high requirements for Japanese speaking ability, they also set very strict standards, for example, in terms of technology, they require our engineers to be experts with 5 years of experience or more. There are also a few cases that we cannot meet. It is really difficult and time-consuming for Japanese companies to approach customers, but once you make friends, it is almost forever. This is the difference compared to other markets,” Mr. Khoa shared. Following the 2 offices in Tokyo and Osaka, in May 2023, VMO Japan established an office in Fukuoka city (on Kyushu island in southwestern Japan) after only 1 month of thinking and considering. Bui Manh Khoa was assigned to take on the responsibility of director of VMO Japan's Fukuoka branch. According to Mr. Khoa, there are many reasons to choose Fukuoka as a destination: convenient geographical location; rated as the best place to live and work in the world; economic development (the GDP of the Kyushu region is more than 400 billion USD, of which Fukuoka's GDP accounts for a very large proportion), in the future it will become an international financial center... In particular, the enthusiastic support of the Fukuoka government helps businesses have many favorable conditions to develop. Fukuoka has a very strong roadmap and support policies for startups, not only in terms of capital but also in terms of consulting on business establishment, providing human resources and some sales channels... This is also a locality with many schools in the field of natural sciences, many excellent students. "VMO Japan is enthusiastically supported by the Fukuoka city government. The first time we came here, they took us to visit 5 universities in just 1 day, helping us connect with the schools to later organize many seminars on technology, from which we have more connections with many other Japanese businesses", Mr. Khoa said. With the desire to turn Fukuoka into a city friendly to IT engineers, the city government came up with the idea and quickly turned the idea of ​​"Engineer-friendly Visa" into reality. With this type of visa, the review time is shortened from 1-3 months to just 1 month. Fukuoka City is the first locality in Japan to implement the "Engineer-friendly Visa" regime. VMO is the first Vietnamese enterprise to implement the new type of visa. Currently, VMO Japan is implementing many projects with businesses in Fukuoka in the fields of: software outsourcing, software development, consulting services related to digital transformation, blockchain, AI, fintech, education... Investing in R&D to do high-tech projects According to Director Bui Manh Khoa, from about 20 initial members, up to now, VMO Japan has more than 400 employees, ready to meet the needs of Japanese customers for IT products and services. The client portfolio is quite diverse, from startups to large enterprises listed in the Fortune 500, operating in a variety of fields: logistics, education, insurance... More than 1,000 engineers of VMO Holdings in Vietnam are a solid foundation for VMO Japan to conquer the Japanese market and continue to Go Global (go to the world market). For a long time, Vietnamese software outsourcing enterprises were assumed to only be able to do jobs with low added value. VMO Japan is determined to change that prejudice, positioning itself at a higher position in the software outsourcing value chain. “We aim to not only be simple coding workers but also become consultants in building and operating information technology systems for Japanese customers, implementing projects applying the latest technologies such as blockchain. The starting point of blockchain of Vietnamese enterprises and companies around the world is almost the same. In fact, Vietnam is even higher than many other countries. When I consulted on implementing blockchain systems, many Japanese customers were quite surprised and impressed, not understanding why we had such new technological knowledge. There were many issues they had never heard of or experienced before,” Director Bui Manh Khoa proudly shared. For many years, when talking about blockchain, people immediately thought of virtual currency, with projects at high risk of fraud. However, virtual currency is just one application of blockchain. Besides, there are many other applications in the fields of health care, agriculture, etc.

VMO Japan is ready to meet the needs of Japanese customers for information technology products and services. Photo: Provided by the character

Up to now, VMO Japan has implemented more than 20 blockchain-related projects for Japanese customers. VMO Japan's biggest advantage is its team of high-quality engineers. Japan always lacks IT engineers, and blockchain engineers are even more lacking. Along with that, it is impossible not to mention the systematic investment in technology R&D (research and development) activities. "It is not simple or accidental that we can make Japanese companies respect us. We had to experiment a lot before achieving certain results to have practical proof, not just empty talk when approaching Japanese companies. Only then can we build their trust. VMO Holdings' leaders always create the most favorable conditions for us to freely create, innovate, and make good products/services. Currently, in the blockchain team, the R&D related group alone has up to 100 people," said Mr. Khoa. The secret to helping VMO find a high-quality workforce while this is still a "difficult problem" for many other businesses is to directly cooperate with universities such as the Post and Telecommunications Institute of Technology (PTIT), opening training programs on technology engineers, shortening the training time for engineers from 4 years to about 3.5 years. Students can participate in real projects and quickly accumulate "real-life" experience. "The first batch attracted about 200 young people. Outstanding students were invited to VMO. Almost every day we have announcements about new people joining the company. One of the standards that must be met is that engineers must at least be able to use English, and sales staff must know both English and Japanese," Mr. Khoa added. On the journey to conquer international customers, businesses like VMO always keep in mind the saying: "If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together". Recently, an information technology association with 6 members who are the top IT companies in Vietnam, including VMO, was established in Kyushu, under the auspices of the Vietnamese Consulate General in Kyushu. “When working in Japan, the support of the government is a solid 'springboard' to help businesses accelerate. I find the way Fukuoka city does things very good, Vietnam can refer to it. Recently, based on the idea of ​​VMO, Fukuoka Mayor Soichiro Takashima personally visited Vietnam, coordinated with the Ministry of Information and Communications and VMO to organize a workshop on "Attracting businesses to invest in Fukuoka city". Instead of a single company approaching customers, when the private sector and the government join hands to approach customers, it will be much more effective", Mr. Khoa proposed. “We are always ready to support Fukuoka City to soon realize its goal of becoming an international financial center through the application of information technology and digital transformation. Together with other Vietnamese IT enterprises, we will prove to the world and the Japanese that Vietnam can not only do technology but also do it very well,” the Director of VMO Japan’s Fukuoka Branch shared his future plans.
VMO Holdings was established in August 2012, has 12 years of experience in the field of software outsourcing, and is providing services to customers in 40 countries, of which the main markets include: Japan, the US, Singapore, Thailand and Korea. VMO Holdings has been voted Top 5 AI Service Providers, Top 10 Information Technology Enterprises in Vietnam, Top 10 Leading Software Enterprises in Vietnam.

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