VietNamNet Bridge – Outsourcing contracts have been coming in thick and fast to software firms since the beginning of the year, promising a bountiful crop for the firms in 2013.

FPT's CEO Truong Gia Binh

When visiting Global Cyber Soft (GCS), a software firm in the Quang Trung Software Park as the first caller on the lunar New Year of Snake, Le Manh Ha, Vice Mayor of HCM City, was informed that GCS has just got a new order from the US.

GCS has been well known for its big outsourcing contracts with Japanese partners. However, two years ago, when economists gave forecast about the decline of the global economy, decided that it needs not only cement its firm position on the loyal market, but also reach to other markets as well.

GCS, which has been keen on automation projects in the Japanese market, now develops a software solution for a satellite telecom network of a client from North America. The project has hired 100 engineers, while the number keeps increasing.

Besides the two key sectors which have been developing well over the last tens of years – healthcare and telecom, in 2013, GCS also plans to develop solutions for Jurich insurance in a big-scaled and long-lasting project.

Regarding the markets, GCS has been running marketing campaigns to expand the export markets. Besides the US and Japan, GCS has reached out to Singapore, Malaysia and 10 countries in Europe.

In order to fulfill the big volume of works, Ngo Van Toan, Deputy General Director of GCS, said the company’s second development center has been established in Da Nang.

TMA Solutions, also a big guy in the field, has also reported good news, saying that prestigious software firms have many choices nowadays, because IT solutions and products have been in high demand in many business fields of the national economy.

After fulfilling a lot of outsourcing contracts on developing mobile apps, TMA Solutions now cooperate with leading foreign experts to run the project on applying quick analysis technology in DNA identification, hoping to create a product of its own.

According to Nguyen Huu Le, with 1,200 engineers, TMA Solutions strives for a 20 percent growth rate in 2013.

FPT Software has decided that it needs to earn $100 million in revenue in 2013, after obtaining $81 million in software export turnover in 2012 (an increase of 30 percent over 2011) The biggest software firm in Vietnam, which now has 4,000 engineers, plan to employ 1,500 more in 2013 to fulfill its ambitious development plan.

Nguyen Viet Hung, General Director of KMS, a 100 percent foreign owned enterprise, specializing in providing the outsourcing services to the US, said the company now has 20 clients who operate in three main business fields – healthcare, e-commerce and online training.

Hung keeps optimistic about the business performance in 2013, saying that the US healthcare sector alone is worth $50 billion.

In general, a bright prospect is foreseeable for the software industry in 2013. Truong Gia Binh, President of FPT, in an interview given to Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam, when talking about the big interests of Japanese businesses in Vietnam, said this is the opportunity which comes only once in every 1,000 years.

Binh quoted a Nikkei Computer’s survey released at Vietnam ICT Day in Japan 2013, as saying that Vietnam has surpassed India to become the second biggest software developer for Japan.

Compiled by C. V