Fifteen years ago, there were only a few document management solutions available in the Vietnamese market, such as eOffice developed by BKAV Corporation. There were few software solutions to administer businesses’ international affairs.

At that time, Thang was a student at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

“Lecturers then took eOffice as an example to teach Database, I found that features of the solution were not powerful enough to solve enterprises’ problems. I realized that the market of software for business administration was a ‘blue ocean’ where there is still much space for me and technology firms,” he recalled.

A ‘blue ocean’ is a market with few players, while a red ocean is an existing market with many competitors.

The predecessor of 1Office was Digital Optimization Solution (DOS).

Thang then met Nguyen Ngoc Diep, CEO of Vat Gia, the first e-commerce website in Vietnam, and talked about an idea of developing an international business administration system for Vat Gia, with focus on personnel management.

As software for Vat Gia ran well, Thang and Diep decided to set up a joint venture which sold the solution. However, they failed to sell the product, because it was tailored specifically for Vat Gia and can satisfy diverse requirements from enterprises.

In 2015, Thang decided to set up a startup of his own – 1Office.

“I came to see Vu, who was then CEO of Media Mart, a retailer. Vu showed me the interface of ERP (Enterprise resource planning) solution applied at The Gioi Di Dong and asked me if we could do the same software. I replied 'We can do more than this',” Thang recalled.

After that, 1Office step by step conquered the hearts of other major clients, such as Dai Viet Beer, Canifa and Hoa Phat, helping enterprises solve their specific problems.

To solve Canifa’s problem (each store applies a different payroll), 1Office built a system allowing Excell commands on the software, customizing the timekeeping formulas, and calculating workers’ salaries on the software.

The commercial version of 1Office operating on the Cloud was officially marketed in 2017 and quickly was added to the list of top software for enterprises in Vietnam.

According to Thang, the BPA (Business Process Automation) module of 1Office’s enterprise overall management platform is a testament of creativity made by his firm.

There are many RPA solutions (robotic process automation) available in the market, but each solution just aims to perform a single task, such as entering data and drawing sale scenarios.

1Office’s BPA is capable of automating the entire process of enterprises’ operations. It integrates different tools to solve questions that enterprises face. For example, the sale scenario is embedded into order processing or finance-accounting tasks.

“Of 6,000 clients of 1Office (20 percent are foreign ivnested enterprises - FIEs), 80 percent are using 1One’s BPA,” he said. “I want 1Office to become a popular online working environment for enterprises. Every worker, when coming to the office, just needs to turn 1Office on to undertake all works they need to do."

In May 2023, 1Office raised millions of dollars worth of funds from Series A round from Mynavi, the leading Japanese company providing personnel services.

Currently, 1Office, together with Base and AMIS, are creating the tripodal position in the business administration software solution market.

After cementing a position in Vietnam, 1Office plans to introduce its Global version in English, slated for June 2025. This will be a ‘no-code, low-code’ system for foreign markets. The problems in the version for the domestic market will be settled and won’t be seen in the version for foreign markets.

Thang said he is aware of the challenges in the international market: there will be many difficult questions, the rivals are more powerful, the markets are choosier, and requirements are bigger.

“We want to become disruptors in the SaaS (Software as a service) market. We target clients who want to explore new experiences and want to increase users' self-service capabilities,” he said.

Binh Minh