Good morning, Vietnam!
A glimpse of the IT market bastion of communism in Southeast Asia
Recently, I spent five days in Vietnam, participating in a trip of top managers of Russian companies, which was organized by the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia. The purpose of the Ministry was to promote Russian high-tech companies in the Vietnamese market. We visited local universities, technology parks, communicated with the leaders of large companies, and even visited the Academy of Sciences. Our group included people from different companies, even farmers. But I, of course, will be judging Vietnam from the perspective of an IT person. By the way, our company CDNvideo was invited by RVK to this trip.
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In Vietnam, many visitors from Russia. There is even a whole city of Russian oilmen , where about 1.5 thousand of our compatriots live. There are also many Russian programmers, but for some reason they don’t come into contact with local reality. They are satisfied with cheap food and housing, warm sea, good weather, and they simply write the code for a Moscow employer. But if they paid attention to what is happening in the local technological environment, and combined with the Vietnamese, they could create their own global products here. We are good at designing and with ideas, and the Vietnamese with executive and meticulousness.
Here, for example, is a story about Vietnamese meticulousness. One day we went to dinner with our compatriot, who has lived in Vietnam for several years and helps Russian companies to establish contacts with a local large company. Then his Vietnamese wife called, and all the participants in the dinner gave each other a mobile phone and in turn presented themselves so that she would no longer have doubts that the husband was in a meeting, and not with the girls. We communicated with her, by the way, in Russian.
"Husband and wife are like a pair of chopsticks." Vietnamese saying
In Vietnam, the Russian language is quite common. In the center of Hanoi, I saw an advertisement in which “Welcome!” Was written in large letters. It was an advertisement for a center that offers education services in Russia, and the locals know what this phrase means from an advertisement without translation into Vietnamese.
When you come to a large company, its leaders will certainly meet with you, and they speak Russian. Some, however, 10 years before did not speak our language, but this does not prevent us from practically without an accent and with a large vocabulary to recall how they were studying in Moscow. Where exactly they studied, I did not specify. It is not excluded that in some military school: between our countries old relations are in the military field.
"When you eat the fruit, remember who planted the tree." Vietnamese saying
The leaders of the Vietnamese companies are not spoiled by the attention. The arrival of top managers from abroad is an event for them. And since our trip was supported by the Ministry of Economic Development, we were greeted as a government delegation and a representative of Big Brother.
When we entered the hall at a conference at a local university, everyone applauded. In general, everything was very pathetic, and I, unfortunately, forgot my costume in Moscow. I come to the largest clothing store in Hanoi - everything is designed for the Vietnamese, not a single suit fits. As a result, I found the biggest jacket and trousers of the same color to it and got into them with grief in half. It turned out fine, though cramped.
In terms of the degree of interest in Russian business, Vietnam was reminded by Kazakhstan. The local market is a little worse developed than the Russian one, and when you arrive with your ready-made and beautifully packaged product, a line of you who wants to sell it comes to you. In Western Europe, for example, nobody needs you. And in Vietnam during the trip at least five local companies offered their services for the sale of our products, and this is pleasant. Among them were found partners of the companies "1C" and "1C-Bitrix." These were the Vietnamese, the owners of a local company - a system integrator, who, again, speak Russian fluently.
They are puzzled that Russian companies are so inactive in their market. After all, the political situation that has developed in Vietnam to our advantage. All large companies (in particular, telecoms, television, IT and Internet companies) are seriously controlled by the state, which will not let either Chinese or Americans onto the market. With China, there is a conflict over the disputed territories. It is clear with America - not so long ago there was a war. So Japanese and European companies (more Japanese) are investing in the local market. And for Russian companies, as we were told, there will be a most favored nation regime.
"Without an elephant and a bull is great" Vietnamese saying
What is the Vietnamese market? This is 90 million people, while the population under the age of 18 is 25 million people - the same in Russia. So this is a growing market. Vietnamese are not rich, but even the poorest people have a mobile phone or a cheap tablet with Internet access, and this is in contrast to India and China, where many do not have such needs. The Vietnamese love football (their own league is very weak, so they watch European football, and if you do not believe it is Russian), they are interested in political life. In general, the information environment is similar to ours. There is a great demand for content, and CDN services are needed in Vietnam. When we get there, we can get a part of the market if we are not late.
Some situations resemble the Russian market as it was ten years ago. For example, telecom operators do not want to exchange traffic with each other. We have Rostelecom, Transtelecom and three major cellular operators that exchange traffic between themselves and sell the rest. In Vietnam, the operators have not yet agreed among themselves about the conditions of interaction. This is clearly in the hands of independent CDN companies, like us, because of this, every major operator seems to provide the CDN service itself, but it concerns only its users, and not the entire Vietnamese Internet.
“Whoever lies in the middle does not lose a shred of blanket.” Vietnamese saying
In some ways the Vietnamese are ahead of us. For example, the institute of technoparks has been successfully operating for ten years. And when I was told phrases like “Well, we don’t care well for your Skolkovo,” I preferred the Vietnamese not to tell us that the Skolkovo technology park was built and opened only this month (by the way, we’ll be one of the first to move there). However, we have long-established technology parks (for example, Strogino in Moscow or IT park in Kazan), and Skolkovo is really more interesting than Vietnamese technology parks in terms of tax benefits and investments.
In Vietnam we were in two local technology parks - in Hanoi and Saigon . Each of them has 50-60 residents, of which one is the largest. In Saigon, this is Global Equipment Services , an assembly production of industrial robots for Japanese companies, built at the expense of Japanese investors. And in Hanoi - FPT Software , the largest company in Vietnam that specializes in outsourcing programming. In general, there are not many programmers in the country - only 30 thousand against our 300 thousand, and the culture of offshore programming is not developed in India or China. But the FPT even has its own university:
Technoparks are outside the customs area of ​​Vietnam, it is a free economic zone. So, it would probably cost ten times more to build and maintain such a plant in Japan. In this sense, the Vietnamese are trying to implement the same model that works in Chinese Shenzhen, where many local electronics manufacturers come from, including Huawei. Their technoparks are orientalized for banal outsourcing, albeit technological.
"The son of the king will be king, the son of a poor man will catch crabs day and night." Vietnamese saying
But the main advantage of Vietnam is, after all, cheap labor of very good quality, as in Russia of the 1996 sample. I remember how I started my career around this time. And the salaries were about the same - $ 150-200, and the labor market is the same - many people with good education and difficulties with work.
In Vietnam, it is accepted that if you were hired, you should thank. One of our compatriots, who has lived there for about three years and sells Russian information systems for hotels, told me that he experienced the same for himself. He hired a Vietnamese as a pre-sales consultant with a salary of $ 400. After that, the relatives of the new employee gave him gifts in an amount equal to his salary for six months.
"I took a plum - give me a peach." Vietnamese saying
Another local feature is a special relationship to innovators. For example, one of the Vietnamese emperors, who ruled about 1 thousand years ago, as we were told, is especially revered for having invented a more productive way of growing rice.
For the same reason, in Vietnam, the former colonialists, the French, are respected. Although it is believed that they have plundered the country for many years, but they have taught the locals how to grow coffee, and now Vietnam is the world's second-largest coffee exporter after Brazil. It seemed to me that we, too, were looked at as innovators, while in the West Russia is regarded as a source of natural resources, and certainly not as a center of technology.
"How to know where you will find gold, and where - a toad." Vietnamese saying
We met with the management of all major telecoms and television companies. I hope we will work with everyone. Outside the CIS for Russian companies there is no better market than Vietnam. However, many things we still do not understand. For example, the Vietnamese "yes" means not "yes, I agree," but "yes, I understood." To this to get used to. And yet, despite socialism and state-owned companies, family and tribal ties are strong in Vietnam. In order to have exactly bought from you, there is little good product and goodwill. You need to be immersed in this world and understand the internal structure of society. At least so many say.
Recently, I spent five days in Vietnam, participating in a trip of top managers of Russian companies, which was organized by the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia. The purpose of the Ministry was to promote Russian high-tech companies in the Vietnamese market. We visited local universities, technology parks, communicated with the leaders of large companies, and even visited the Academy of Sciences. Our group included people from different companies, even farmers. But I, of course, will be judging Vietnam from the perspective of an IT person. By the way, our company CDNvideo was invited by RVK to this trip.
')
In Vietnam, many visitors from Russia. There is even a whole city of Russian oilmen , where about 1.5 thousand of our compatriots live. There are also many Russian programmers, but for some reason they don’t come into contact with local reality. They are satisfied with cheap food and housing, warm sea, good weather, and they simply write the code for a Moscow employer. But if they paid attention to what is happening in the local technological environment, and combined with the Vietnamese, they could create their own global products here. We are good at designing and with ideas, and the Vietnamese with executive and meticulousness.
Here, for example, is a story about Vietnamese meticulousness. One day we went to dinner with our compatriot, who has lived in Vietnam for several years and helps Russian companies to establish contacts with a local large company. Then his Vietnamese wife called, and all the participants in the dinner gave each other a mobile phone and in turn presented themselves so that she would no longer have doubts that the husband was in a meeting, and not with the girls. We communicated with her, by the way, in Russian.
"Husband and wife are like a pair of chopsticks." Vietnamese saying
In Vietnam, the Russian language is quite common. In the center of Hanoi, I saw an advertisement in which “Welcome!” Was written in large letters. It was an advertisement for a center that offers education services in Russia, and the locals know what this phrase means from an advertisement without translation into Vietnamese.
When you come to a large company, its leaders will certainly meet with you, and they speak Russian. Some, however, 10 years before did not speak our language, but this does not prevent us from practically without an accent and with a large vocabulary to recall how they were studying in Moscow. Where exactly they studied, I did not specify. It is not excluded that in some military school: between our countries old relations are in the military field.
"When you eat the fruit, remember who planted the tree." Vietnamese saying
The leaders of the Vietnamese companies are not spoiled by the attention. The arrival of top managers from abroad is an event for them. And since our trip was supported by the Ministry of Economic Development, we were greeted as a government delegation and a representative of Big Brother.
When we entered the hall at a conference at a local university, everyone applauded. In general, everything was very pathetic, and I, unfortunately, forgot my costume in Moscow. I come to the largest clothing store in Hanoi - everything is designed for the Vietnamese, not a single suit fits. As a result, I found the biggest jacket and trousers of the same color to it and got into them with grief in half. It turned out fine, though cramped.
In terms of the degree of interest in Russian business, Vietnam was reminded by Kazakhstan. The local market is a little worse developed than the Russian one, and when you arrive with your ready-made and beautifully packaged product, a line of you who wants to sell it comes to you. In Western Europe, for example, nobody needs you. And in Vietnam during the trip at least five local companies offered their services for the sale of our products, and this is pleasant. Among them were found partners of the companies "1C" and "1C-Bitrix." These were the Vietnamese, the owners of a local company - a system integrator, who, again, speak Russian fluently.
They are puzzled that Russian companies are so inactive in their market. After all, the political situation that has developed in Vietnam to our advantage. All large companies (in particular, telecoms, television, IT and Internet companies) are seriously controlled by the state, which will not let either Chinese or Americans onto the market. With China, there is a conflict over the disputed territories. It is clear with America - not so long ago there was a war. So Japanese and European companies (more Japanese) are investing in the local market. And for Russian companies, as we were told, there will be a most favored nation regime.
"Without an elephant and a bull is great" Vietnamese saying
What is the Vietnamese market? This is 90 million people, while the population under the age of 18 is 25 million people - the same in Russia. So this is a growing market. Vietnamese are not rich, but even the poorest people have a mobile phone or a cheap tablet with Internet access, and this is in contrast to India and China, where many do not have such needs. The Vietnamese love football (their own league is very weak, so they watch European football, and if you do not believe it is Russian), they are interested in political life. In general, the information environment is similar to ours. There is a great demand for content, and CDN services are needed in Vietnam. When we get there, we can get a part of the market if we are not late.
Some situations resemble the Russian market as it was ten years ago. For example, telecom operators do not want to exchange traffic with each other. We have Rostelecom, Transtelecom and three major cellular operators that exchange traffic between themselves and sell the rest. In Vietnam, the operators have not yet agreed among themselves about the conditions of interaction. This is clearly in the hands of independent CDN companies, like us, because of this, every major operator seems to provide the CDN service itself, but it concerns only its users, and not the entire Vietnamese Internet.
“Whoever lies in the middle does not lose a shred of blanket.” Vietnamese saying
In some ways the Vietnamese are ahead of us. For example, the institute of technoparks has been successfully operating for ten years. And when I was told phrases like “Well, we don’t care well for your Skolkovo,” I preferred the Vietnamese not to tell us that the Skolkovo technology park was built and opened only this month (by the way, we’ll be one of the first to move there). However, we have long-established technology parks (for example, Strogino in Moscow or IT park in Kazan), and Skolkovo is really more interesting than Vietnamese technology parks in terms of tax benefits and investments.
In Vietnam we were in two local technology parks - in Hanoi and Saigon . Each of them has 50-60 residents, of which one is the largest. In Saigon, this is Global Equipment Services , an assembly production of industrial robots for Japanese companies, built at the expense of Japanese investors. And in Hanoi - FPT Software , the largest company in Vietnam that specializes in outsourcing programming. In general, there are not many programmers in the country - only 30 thousand against our 300 thousand, and the culture of offshore programming is not developed in India or China. But the FPT even has its own university:
Technoparks are outside the customs area of ​​Vietnam, it is a free economic zone. So, it would probably cost ten times more to build and maintain such a plant in Japan. In this sense, the Vietnamese are trying to implement the same model that works in Chinese Shenzhen, where many local electronics manufacturers come from, including Huawei. Their technoparks are orientalized for banal outsourcing, albeit technological.
"The son of the king will be king, the son of a poor man will catch crabs day and night." Vietnamese saying
But the main advantage of Vietnam is, after all, cheap labor of very good quality, as in Russia of the 1996 sample. I remember how I started my career around this time. And the salaries were about the same - $ 150-200, and the labor market is the same - many people with good education and difficulties with work.
In Vietnam, it is accepted that if you were hired, you should thank. One of our compatriots, who has lived there for about three years and sells Russian information systems for hotels, told me that he experienced the same for himself. He hired a Vietnamese as a pre-sales consultant with a salary of $ 400. After that, the relatives of the new employee gave him gifts in an amount equal to his salary for six months.
"I took a plum - give me a peach." Vietnamese saying
Another local feature is a special relationship to innovators. For example, one of the Vietnamese emperors, who ruled about 1 thousand years ago, as we were told, is especially revered for having invented a more productive way of growing rice.
For the same reason, in Vietnam, the former colonialists, the French, are respected. Although it is believed that they have plundered the country for many years, but they have taught the locals how to grow coffee, and now Vietnam is the world's second-largest coffee exporter after Brazil. It seemed to me that we, too, were looked at as innovators, while in the West Russia is regarded as a source of natural resources, and certainly not as a center of technology.
"How to know where you will find gold, and where - a toad." Vietnamese saying
We met with the management of all major telecoms and television companies. I hope we will work with everyone. Outside the CIS for Russian companies there is no better market than Vietnam. However, many things we still do not understand. For example, the Vietnamese "yes" means not "yes, I agree," but "yes, I understood." To this to get used to. And yet, despite socialism and state-owned companies, family and tribal ties are strong in Vietnam. In order to have exactly bought from you, there is little good product and goodwill. You need to be immersed in this world and understand the internal structure of society. At least so many say.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/241011/
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