Entrepreneur Nguyen Lam Vinh Du, General Director of KMS Technology: Innovation to lead the market

The “turning points”

There are many different motivations for each person to rise up in life, succeed and create things that can satisfy the personal needs of others or themselves. Some people want to provide natural and safe food for consumers; some people want to create a comfortable and friendly space for people to eat, sip tea, or enjoy a cup of good coffee; some people are even so desperate, have been fired and cannot find a new job...

For Mr. Nguyen Lam Vinh Du, the new General Director of KMS Technology - a businessman specializing in consulting and providing software services, working as a software engineer, service director or in a new position is a turning point.

Before the recent April 30 holiday, Mr. Du caused a stir in the technology community when he officially took the "hot seat" of KMS Technology, succeeding Mr. Tran Trong Dai, who made very important contributions, creating a foundation for KMS Technology to grow sustainably since 2018 along with expanding operations in the North American and Asian markets.

Leaders need to make difficult decisions and they need to do it with good expertise, a high sense of responsibility and determination. When they start to do it well, it is also the time when they easily fall into the trap of personal ego. They need to be honest with themselves so that their decisions are truly for the work and the organization, instead of for themselves in the name of the organization and the collective.
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Businessman Nguyen Lam Vinh Du

Mr. Du will manage all KMS Technology operations in Vietnam, focusing on two main offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang with more than 1,100 technology engineers. With a new vision, Mr. Du believes that KMS Technology will achieve double to triple growth, lead the software market in at least two segments, increase revenue from consulting services and continue to maintain the top position in employee satisfaction index.

The new General Director of KMS Technology possesses extensive experience, professional capacity as well as management skills, with 25 years of managing many projects and software products in the fields of e-commerce, digital banking, financial services... Before being appointed, he was the Senior Vice President of Services at KMS Technology, responsible for developing the engineering team from 20 to more than 900 people; most recently managing the banking, digital finance and insurance segments.

Mr. Du's appointment comes at an opportune time for KMS Technology, as the Company continues to invest in next-generation technologies and expand its global expertise.

This was another “historic turning point” in his life. It reminded him of the past, where there were “turning points” that shaped his career path.

One of the turning points that helped him grow a lot in his career was 3 years ago, when he was empowered with one of his leadership colleagues at KMS to establish a financial technology company with a buy now, pay later (BNPL) model called

Kaypay. This process helped him gain awareness and understanding of many areas beyond the software service (delivery) sector that he had been involved in for more than 20 years before. Although Kaypay was not as successful as expected, it gave him valuable experience and understanding, as well as the confidence to contribute to KMS as the CEO in Vietnam.

The opportunity that brought Mr. Du to KMS began many years before KMS was established. He was fortunate to be one of the newly graduated engineers in 2000 selected to work at Paragon Solutions Vietnam (PSV), a 100% foreign-invested enterprise with a pioneering business model at that time - software outsourcing for the US market. The fact that PSV met the requirements of US customers proved the feasibility of the software outsourcing model for foreign countries in general and for the demanding US market in particular. That has motivated and inspired many businesses to enter this field.

From his good work results at PSV, Mr. Du was known by PSV's founder - Mr. Lam Quoc Vu. After that, the two had the opportunity to work together at an online payment start-up.

The failure of the new start-up and the financial crisis in 2008 did not stop Mr. Vu and his associates from founding KMS. In early 2009, Mr. Du was invited to join KMS as the Service Director. Up to now, after 16 years of working with KMS, Mr. Du still feels lucky and is full of energy, motivation to learn and contribute to his work every day.

He admitted that the issue of food - clothing - rice - money, especially in the first years of his career, has kept him attached to technology for 25 years. Perhaps, that is also a characteristic of people in the 7x generation - always worrying about their family's food and clothing... Next, maybe because the technology industry requires continuous learning to survive and develop with the profession, so he always maintains order, discipline with himself, and keeps good health to be able to follow the profession...

Learn to understand

Mr. Du believes that one of the biggest challenges of leadership is understanding colleagues and employees. Instead of setting goals or expecting things beyond the team's capabilities, he gradually learned to understand more about the difficulties, constraints, limitations or personal views of employees and colleagues.

He supports them better and works with them more harmoniously. Of course, to do that, he must have a team of individuals with good expertise, willing to share goals and core values. For him, every working environment, whether in a startup or a large enterprise, has its own problems to solve and that is a good learning opportunity for him.

Personally, he is fortunate to have the opportunity to work and learn good points in different environments. He always tries to bring the start-up spirit with flexibility, creativity, continuous learning and improvement into the operating platform, while also ensuring the neatness, accuracy and rigor of a large-scale company for the appropriate stages.

Having been with KMS Technology since the early days with 20 engineers, now that the company has surpassed the 1,000-employee mark, and is present in the US and Mexico in addition to the domestic market, Mr. Du understands better than anyone that scale creates strength, but the value of internal connections is the solid foundation for breakthroughs.

Build a solid foundation

In a constantly changing technological landscape, the phrase “valuable innovation” is extremely important to a service company like KMS Technology.

In terms of personal principles when making strategic decisions, Mr. Du follows a three-legged stool. First, innovation must solve real customer problems. Second, he believes in the balance between long-term investment and short-term results. The company needs quick wins to maintain momentum, but must be placed within the framework of a long-term vision. Third, prioritizing investment in the team is the most effective long-term strategy.

“When faced with the choice between short-term effectiveness and long-term goals, I try to find the intersection—initiatives that can deliver short-term results, but also build a foundation for the future,” he shares.

In the next 1-2 years, the biggest priority of the new CEO of KMS Technology is to build a solid foundation for the Company's new growth phase. He and the leadership team will focus on developing a human resource team with a balanced ratio between experienced and less experienced groups, improving the Company's expertise in strategic technology areas, and optimizing the Company's multi-regional operating model.

In addition to traditional financial metrics, he will measure success through a number of other dimensions. The first of these is the development of the team. He wants to see more of the company’s employees promoted to higher positions, developing their technical and professional skills in line with the company’s strategic direction. They must feel more connected to the company’s mission. He will monitor retention rates, professional development, and employee satisfaction, as well as the organization’s ability to respond and adapt flexibly to market demands and new technological developments.

Next, customer satisfaction and loyalty. He will not only measure sales, but also the willingness of customers to try new solutions with the Company.

Finally, it measures KMS Technology's contribution to the local technology ecosystem through knowledge sharing, experience sharing,educational collaboration, and community development initiatives.

In the context of strong development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, KMS Technology is establishing an innovation center, focusing on research and development (R&D) of AI solutions applied in industries where KMS has strengths such as healthcare, fintech and enterprise software. The goal is not just to keep up with trends, but to build deep expertise in integrating AI into specific software solutions, solving real problems of customers. In addition, the Company implements a comprehensive training program on AI and related technologies for the entire technical team.

KMS Technology is building a culture of continuous innovation throughout the organization, encouraging everyone to continuously learn, experiment and share knowledge. This is the most important foundation for the Company to maintain and enhance its competitive position in the AI era.

“We do not invest in R&D to follow trends, but to solve practical problems in the industry - a field in which we have strengths. That is the way to innovate without being swept away by the market, but leading the market,” the new CEO of KMS Technology shared.

Mr. Leo Tucker, CEO of KMS Technology, believes that with his deep understanding of business operations, high level of expertise and sharp leadership thinking, Mr. Du is completely suitable to become the next leader to lead KMS Technology into a period of innovation and growth. In particular, with the support and advice of investors and staff in Vietnam, the US and Mexico, Mr. Du believes that the upcoming journey of KMS Technology promises many positive prospects.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/doanh-nhan-nguyen-lam-vinh-du-tong-giam-doc-kms-technology-doi-moi-de-dan-dat-thi-truong-d280318.html