VietNamNet Bridge – Penetrating and cementing firm positions in the US market means there’s great opportunities for Vietnamese software firms to approach a lot of US giants in all business fields, from aviation to oil and gas and finance investment.

FPT Software's managers and the US partners

While Japan is considered the “loyal” and familiar market for Vietnam’s software firms, the US is described as the market where they can see great potentials. While Japan is the main and important market in the eyes of 75 percent of Vietnamese firms, the US has emerged as a gold mine to exploit.

Vietnamese software firms have been heading for the US market, because they understand that once they can cement their firm positions there, they would be able to approach the big guys in many business fields of the US economy.

Especially, they can see the chances to “heighten” technologies when they can follow the new technology tendencies in the world, such as mobility, or cloud computing, to better serve clients.

According to Hoang Nam Tien, President of FPT Software, the firm has obtained high growth over the last four years, since the day the firm set up a business in the US. The business made up 9 percent of total revenue of FPT Software four years ago, while the figure rose to 22 percent in 2012.

“FPT Software has been growing well with the relations with the US leading companies listed in Fortune 500,” Tien said.

In early 2012, FPT Software officially became the strategic partner in terms of mobility for the world’s leading aircraft manufacturer. FPT Software has also obtained two contracts with two big clients who have turnover of multi-billions dollars. These include a “tycoon” specializing in providing services to oil and gas companies, and a semi-conductor supplier for automobile manufacturer.

Tien has revealed that the firm is negotiating with a US-based technology and software solution group on a project to put the mobility technology of the group on the first position in Enterprise Mobility sector around the globe.

Bui Hoang Tung, General Director of FPT Software in the US (FUSA), said in the next few years, FUSA would continue focusing on Fortune 500’s companies and on some IT sectors such as mobility, cloud computing and embedded software.

When asked about the potentials of the US market, Tung said FUSA strives to obtain the highest possible growth rates in the market, which would help make the US market as big as the Japanese market in the next three or five years.

Currently, FUSA has been carrying out its activities at many big US economic centers, such as Silicon Valley, New York, Austin, Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle and Minneapolis.

Like FPT Software, many other Vietnamese software firms have also been planning to penetrate the US market on the good news that the giant economy has been recovering rapidly. A report has pointed out that the unemployment rate in the US has dropped from 10 percent to 7 percent.

A senior executive of Somotsoft firm also said the firm’s business in the US has been going very smoothly. In 2012, the firm’s revenue increased by 20 percent over 2011.

Meanwhile, Global CyberSOft (GCS) said it hopes to obtain the high growth rate of 30-40 percent in 2013. Its two main markets are the US and Japan.

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has predicted that Vietnam would become the place where US companies would come to for outsourcing orders.

Buu Dien