Software outsourcers need HR improvement

HCMC – If Vietnamese software outsourcers did not improve the quality of their human resources, they would likely lose orders from Japanese information technology (IT) firms despite the fact that Japanese enterprises are shifting their orders to Vietnam.

As per the 2012 IT White Book of Japan compiled by the Japan Information Technology Promotion Agency (IPA) based on a survey of 1,100 IT companies in Japan, Vietnam remains the top partner for Japanese businesses. In particular, 31.5% of the respondents chose Vietnam as their partner, versus 20.6% for India and 16.7% for China.
In fact, 23.3% of the surveyed firms are placing orders in Vietnam, while the percentage is 17.8% in 2010.
Japanese companies prefer Vietnam for its low-cost, abundant and skilled labor force. In addition, Japan is looking to increase the proportion of outsourcing after the country was badly hit by earthquake and tsunami.
However, the value of orders for Vietnam is only one-thirtieth of the total value of orders for China. This indicates that the opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises is still great.
Vietnamese software companies have a chance to receive bulk outsourcing orders from Japan, but the biggest challenge for local firms is human resource, said Nguyen Doan Hung, chairman of the Vietnam IT business club.
He said Japanese people set strict requirements on working style of engineers. Therefore, the Vietnamese side has to demonstrate the characteristics of Vietnamese laborers like faithful, loyal and systematic.
The major weakness of IT human resource is not technical skills, but it is soft skills, including foreign languages, teamwork and being disciplinary, said Hung. Therefore, Vietnamese IT companies have to spend time on additional training.
Sharing this view, Naoki Ookubo, representative of IPA, said IT human resource quality is the top concern of Japanese enterprises. Therefore, if local firms did not remedy this issue, they would likely lose orders from Japanese partners.
By Ha Van - The Saigon Times Daily
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