Sector of industry and trade gradually changes its appearance and digital transformation capabilities

In recent years, digital transformation has been actively promoted by the Government, ministries, sectors and localities, bringing significant efficiency to State agencies ‘management as well as benefits for people and businesses.

On the afternoon of August 23, at the headquarters of VNPT Binh Duong, provincial Department of Industry and Trade and Department of Information and Communications, in collaboration with Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), held a seminar titled “The Journey to change the appearance and digital transformation capabilities of the industry and trade sector”.

Delegates attending the seminar

The event was attended by Le Hoang Oanh, Director of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy under the Ministry of Industry and Trade; Nguyen Truong Nhat Phuong, Vice Chairwoman of provincial People's Council; Nguyen Truong Thi, Deputy Director of provincial Department of Industry and Trade; Nguyen Huu Yen, Deputy Director of provincial Department of Information and Communications; Pham Huy Hoang, CEO of VNPT Information Technology Company, along with over 200 guests representing leaders from several departments and sectors in and out of the province.

Le Hoang Oanh, Director of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy under the Ministry of Industry and Trade speaking at the seminar

At the seminar “The Journey to change the appearance and digital transformation capabilities of the industry and trade sector”, speakers from provincial departments and representatives of VNPT shared their experience in making digital transformation within the industry and trade sector and building information infrastructure and databases for the sector in Binh Duong province.

"In addition, the speakers also proposed foundational platforms along with new features, operational subsystems and reporting methods implemented through surveys, assessments of current conditions, business needs and data that need to be managed as well as the plans of each locality, to devise a detailed roadmap for the most effective implementation. Additionally, measures to ensure information security, protect sectoral data and safeguard digital transformation infrastructure were discussed.

According to Nguyen Truong Thi, Deputy Director of provincial Department of Industry and Trade, during the initial survey phase, data management within the sector was still quite manual and had not yet applied digital transformation. Data storage was scattered in many places, and paper documents were stored manually. The department managed data across 37 data categories and 125 administrative procedures, none of which were digitized. Reports and statistics were manually compiled. Specifically, information on business operations was incomplete, making it difficult to compile and report data efficiently.

Nguyen Truong Thi, Deputy Director of provincial Department of Industry and Trade shares his experience in building provincial industry and trade sector’s information system and database

From 2017 to 2022, provincial Department of Industry and Trade implemented the phase 1 of the digital transformation effort. This initial phase achieved some positive results such as digitizing and managing the storage of over 50 existing data categories from various specialized departments, including gas stations, markets, supermarkets, shopping centers, chemical enterprises, major energy users, industrial parks/compounds, etc. In addition, 46 datasets of business information changes on incident information over time, incident response equipment, warehouse information, annual revenue data, etc. were also digitized.

Data from the industry and trade sector has also been integrated into the province’s Intelligent Operation Center (IOC) to support management work, covering over 40 targets on production, trade and energy...Furthermore, the digital transformation of administrative processes for 125 procedures in 15 fields in the industry and trade sector has helped to manage documents efficiently, reduce paperwork and save time and costs for businesses.

Since 2023, provincial Department of Industry and Trade has been working with VNPT to survey and evaluate necessary tasks for the phase 2, further making a comprehensive digital transformation process.

At this event, representatives from businesses also shared practical experience on digital transformation in Binh Duong's key production fields on wood processing, logistics, mechanical manufacturing...Delegates also discussed the industry and trade sector’s global and national digital transformation trends, VNPT's strategy for building data that promotes the local economy as well as completing an ecosystem of products and services to meet the industry's digital transformation needs in the future.

Reported by Dieu Hang – Department of Trade Management (hangb22@gmail.com)-Translated by Kim Tin