Not staying out of the trend of applying artificial intelligence (AI) by big companies, some small businesses also develop AI themselves to find business opportunities.
In late 2023, education technology startup Tomia completed a smart school management platform of the same name. In addition to managing textbooks and lectures, Tomia uses AI to develop facial recognition capabilities and automatically complete comments to reduce the workload for teachers.
They offer the platform for free to public schools and a trial for private or international schools. Tomia CEO Pham Duong Tran said that 300 private schools have used their AI management platform. About 90% of Tomina's customers are schools that teach the Montessori method. This is a method that focuses on creating conditions for children to develop naturally through self-discovery and self-learning, created by Italian physician Maria Montessori in the 19th century.
Parents use Tomia to view their children's activities at school. Photo provided by the company
Or in the logistics industry, a 9-year-old domestic startup SuperShip launched SuperAI late last month. The smart application can suggest sellers to choose the optimal carrier in terms of cost and time for orders from Giao Hang Nhanh (GHN), ViettelPost, Ninjavan, Best, Shopee Express has negotiated connections.
Le Thanh Hoai, CEO of SuperShip, said that about 4 million orders are delivered daily in Vietnam and each delivery company has strengths in different delivery routes. "When combined, they have up to 150,000 post offices nationwide for AI to suggest optimal delivery solutions for sellers," Hoai said.
In addition, the application can also warn delivery routes of potential overload, helping shop owners avoid situations where goods are stuck like the congestion of goods at a delivery company during the recent Tet holiday.
Platforms using AI such as Tomia or SuperShip are developed with the goal of helping Vietnamese businesses transform digitally and technologically to save costs and increase competitiveness.
SuperShip CEO Le Thanh Hoai shared about the new smart application on March 30. Photo provided by the company
A study in Asia-Pacific, including Vietnam, by auditing firm PwC released earlier this year said AI is one of two prominent trends that are creating pressure for CEOs in the region to innovate. Of these, 49% believe that applying generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) will increase revenue and profitability by 5% or more.
James Cheo, Head of Investments for Southeast Asia and India, HSBC Global Private Banking and Wealth Management, assesses the impact of AI, robotics and automation will become mainstream in many industries, not just technology.
While technology-based businesses or large corporations have the financial resources to quickly access AI, small businesses in Vietnam have more difficulty.
"With limited capacity in terms of staff, finance and understanding, many small and medium enterprises are struggling to find a feasible way to apply AI to business," said Dr. Le Duy Tan, AI lecturer at International University (under Ho Chi Minh City National University), member of AIoT Lab VN Research Center.
In fact, SuperShip itself spent 3 years investing to complete SuperA. Tomia is a rookie in EdTech (educational technology), but in fact their team gathers engineers with more than 12 years of experience in the software field.
"AI is a long-term and expensive battle. For example, OpenAI spent many years and hundreds of millions of dollars to launch ChatGPT. Therefore, some small businesses may not have enough patience and resources to build and develop these tools and platforms on their own," said Mr. Tan.
Therefore, the direction for small businesses in AI development, according to AIoT Lab VN experts, is to go step by step. First, they should try the solutions provided by technology companies and learn how to use them properly.
Next, when they have a certain understanding of AI and are more confident, businesses can consider developing it themselves or finding a specialized company to order the most essential and direct products to their business and help them master the core technology.
According to Dr. Tan, if you are not confident enough and have limited resources, you can follow the path of some small businesses in Japan, which is to outsource AI solutions to technology companies. If your finances are even more limited, you can choose to use subscription services from available tools from large technology corporations.
"However, this includes disadvantages and risks, because large technology companies provide comprehensive solutions, so they will not be suitable for the specific model and data of each unit," Mr. Tan noted.
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