Strengthening connectivity between applications and digital platforms

Engineer at FPT Software Company Limited at Hoa Lac High-Tech Park, Thach That District, Hanoi.

However, most of those applications and digital platforms are not highly connected. Therefore, it is time to increase connectivity and interconnectivity so that applications can fully promote their value and features to serve people most effectively.

According to a report by the Ministry of Information and Communications, our country currently has about 1,500 digital technology enterprises with revenue from foreign markets. The digital technology industry is increasingly developing, bringing "Make in Vietnam" technology into all aspects of social life. Along with that, the investment and attention of local governments across the country have achieved important steps in digital transformation and building e-government.

Steps forward in administrative reform

On the VneID application, Ms. Dao Thi Thu Hien (Xuan La, Tay Ho, Hanoi) announced that her car driver's license was about to expire and needed to be renewed. She went to the Public Service Portal to find out more and went for a health check, then uploaded a photo of her old driver's license, personal documents, and health check certificate to the public service system. After 2 weeks, she received a new driver's license delivered to her home. The VneID system also updated Ms. Hien's new driver's license. Thus, the system has been connected and shared...

This is one of the steps forward in administrative reform of the government when applying applications, sharing data, connecting... The increasing number of software and digital platforms being applied is a premise for Hanoi to set a goal that by 2025, science, technology and innovation will truly become the main driving force for the socio-economic development of the capital.

Director of the Hanoi Department of Science and Technology Nguyen Hong Son said that the city is implementing the "Capital Initiative Network" and promoting the role of "Creative City" to closely connect managers, intellectuals and businessmen to serve and solve specific problems in the development process.

Not only Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, many localities nationwide have identified one of the key tasks as building and developing e-government and digital government, meeting the roadmap for building the Smart City Project and the Digital Transformation Program; striving by 2025, 100% of departments, branches, People's Committees of districts, wards, communes and towns will apply and maintain the interconnection of database systems.

In Binh Duong province, Mr. Le Tuan Anh, Director of the Department of Information and Communications, said that up to now, the province has developed digital infrastructure to neighborhoods and hamlets; 100% of communes, wards and towns have dedicated data transmission networks; 3,666 BTS stations broadcasting 4G covering 100% of the province serving 4 million subscribers. Up to now, all 100% of records are processed online; 1.2 million people have activated level 2 identification accounts; the rate of online records has reached 76%...

Connecting, integrating, and sharing data between state agencies, especially from national database sources, information systems with scale and scope from central to local levels, helps maximize data value; improve the quality of public services provided to users in the direction of "taking people and businesses as the center". People and businesses do not have to provide information multiple times to state agencies and service providers; avoid duplicate investment, causing waste.

Recently, the Ministry of Information and Communications launched the “Digital Village Handbook” on digital platforms to guide each citizen and each household to proactively build a Digital Village - the smallest digital economic and social model, from which many digital communes, villages and hamlets have emerged. Yen Dinh district, Thanh Hoa province has piloted the implementation of digital models in two communes, Dinh Hung and Dinh Long, bringing many practical benefits to people in all areas of social life.

Giao Phong Commune, Giao Thuy District has been invested 11 billion VND to implement the first "Smart New Rural Commune" model in Nam Dinh Province. It is expected that by 2025, Giao Phong will successfully build a smart new rural commune ensuring 3 pillars: Digital Government, Digital Economy and Digital Society. In the mountainous province of Lao Cai, Gia Phu Commune, Bao Thang District has applied digital transformation in public administration with more than 95% of work records in the commune being managed, processed and circulated online, more than 30% of people have completed registration for electronic authentication, digitized data and personal documents.

IGB Joint Stock Company, a pioneer in the field of digital transformation, has many applications for sharing and connecting people in the mountainous areas to trade with the lowlands, including the application "Smart Tourism" which is a platform to help authorities manage and business units exploit tourism in the area very effectively. It is worth mentioning that all of these utilities are open source codes integrated from services that have been and are being exploited in the area and other services outside the area related to tourism.

Digital technology enterprises are gradually becoming the key factor for the country to develop strongly. Currently, Vietnam has more than 64,000 enterprises operating in the digital technology sector, of which 1,500 enterprises have revenue from foreign markets and have reached more than 7.5 billion USD. FPT is a pioneer model with a strategy to develop artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor chips and automation (automotive technology). In 2023, FPT's revenue from foreign markets reached 1 billion USD, accounting for more than 77% of the technology sector's revenue.

Adequate investment combined with institutional and organizational transformation

In reality, the implementation of e-Government also faces certain difficulties. The technological resources needed for digital government such as digital identification codes, digital payments and data interconnection platforms in Vietnam are not suitable due to the lack of consistency in policies and institutions.

The Government's cloud computing platform has not been built yet, digital databases and integrated systems, sharing safe and secure digital data have only been partially deployed, there is still a big gap to fully digitize data and workflow. The staff and civil servants performing public duties still have limitations in awareness, scientific level and management level.

Vu Xuan Nguyen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of IGB Joint Stock Company, shared: “We really want to cooperate with prestigious newspapers and magazines to promote domestic and foreign information through API pairing, like many other information interaction services. However, many large newspapers and magazines are still not really interested in connecting information service platforms, although this pairing increases reader interaction, increases traffic to newspapers, and information is quickly covered to people and businesses.”

Experts in the field of information technology believe that in order to build a digital government and modernize the way the government operates, with the support of digital technology applications and digital data exploitation, there needs to be adequate investment, combined with institutional and organizational transformation, improving human resources, as well as the method and level of mobilizing investment capital. On the other hand, promoting propaganda about the benefits of digital government needs to be associated with improving people's knowledge, and having support measures so that people accept and participate in the process of building a digital government.

Decree No. 47/2020/ND-CP on management, connection and sharing of digital data of state agencies has issued the Vietnam e-Government Architecture Framework. The connection of information systems and databases between ministries, branches and localities on a national scale must be through the National Data Integration and Sharing Platform (NDXP). Carrying out the tasks assigned by the Government and the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Information and Communications has built and put NDXP into use.

Currently, NDXP has connected with ministries, branches, localities, and enterprises, with about 500,000 transactions per day through NDXP. With each transaction, people and enterprises do not have to provide or declare information multiple times; civil servants, public employees, and workers do not have to enter data or synthesize data on many different software; leaders have synthesized, unified, and reliable information to make timely and effective decisions; helping to increase data reuse, avoid duplicate investment, and cause waste.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung said: To ensure unity, synchronization, and enhance connectivity between applications and digital platforms, the Ministry of Information and Communications has issued and organized the implementation of the "Vietnam e-Government Architecture Framework", helping to identify shared components at the central and local levels, and determine the model of connection and data sharing on a national scale.

The Minister of Information and Communications also approved the “Program to promote the development and use of national digital platforms to serve digital transformation, develop digital government, digital economy, and digital society”. These moves by the Ministry of Information and Communications will contribute to realizing the goal of forming a digital government by 2025, bringing telecommunications infrastructure and digital infrastructure to gradually fulfill their role as important economic and technical infrastructure of digital government, digital economy, and digital society.

Source