IBM colossal investments benefit Vietnam

IBM Vietnam’s general director Tan Jee Toon

IBM Vietnam’s general director Tan Jee Toon last week announced that IBM had been investing more than $24 billion, including $17 billion in more than 30 acquisitions. IBM had earned 4,000 analytics patents.

IBM has also committed an additional $1.2 billion in 2014 to expand global cloud footprint. By late 2015, IBM will deliver cloud services from 40 data centres in 15 countries in five continents.

It is estimated that by 2016, more than one-fourth of the world’s applications will be available in the cloud, and 85 per cent of new software is now being built for cloud.

Toon said Vietnam was also benefiting from this trend. All technologies obtained from the acquisitions and IBM would also be applied in Vietnam.

An IBM survey shows that more than 50 per cent of enterprises in Vietnam are employing IBM cloud technologies and only 3 per cent were not using these technologies.

“That’s good news as Vietnam’s enterprises’ awareness about cloud computing is improving. Cloud is a growth engine for business. We will continue working with organisations and enterprises in the country to boost the use of cloud solutions,” Toon said. “Besides, solutions for mobile, security and business solutions in social networks will also be IBM’s key investments in Vietnam in the coming time.”

In Vietnam, many firms like Honda, Dupont, GM, Nguyen Kim, Siemens, Nesle, Amway, Phuong Dong and Tien Phong banks, and Saigon International Hospital are using IBM’s analytic technologies to collect data and information.

“Is your head in the clouds? Is your organization? Today, cloud is everywhere. And whether it’s mobile, social or big data and analytics, the common connecting thread is cloud—a strategic enabler that belongs at the heart of every business strategy. No matter where you are in the cloud journey …and whether your objective is speeding time to market or using analytics to drive better decision-making … cloud can help get you there. And deliver real business outcomes,” said Jamie Thomas, IBM general manager of Software Defined Systems.

However, Toon also underscored challenges that companies like IBM were facing in Vietnam.

“The biggest obstruction for information technology (IT) promotion in Vietnam is that many agencies and enterprises, especially state-owned enterprises, have not paid due attention to IT development. This will make it hard for them to develop,” he said. “So the Vietnamese government would need to improve and incentivise IT awareness among these agencies and enterprises, because they will, sooner or later, need to apply IT solutions in their operations. IT will be the driving force for development and growth. We also know that the cloud computing application will also be high on the government’s IT agenda and we stand ready to support this effort.”

Currently, IBM processes over 5.5 million transactions a day through its public cloud. The company holding 1,560 cloud patents expects to achieve $7 billion in annual cloud revenue by 2015.