FPT conquers foreign markets: From being a worker to the ambition of "being a teacher"

In a recent coffee sharing session with the press, Mr. Pham Minh Tuan, Deputy General Director of FPT Corporation, General Director of FPT Software Company Limited - FPT Software said that FPT in foreign markets has gone from being a worker, developing to doing full-package work and in the future striving to "become a teacher".

Consider Asian market as number 1 priority

Sharing about FPT's process of conquering foreign markets, Mr. Pham Minh Tuan, Deputy General Director of FPT Corporation, General Director of FPT Software Company Limited - FPT Software said that after 25 years, the position of Vietnam, including technology enterprises like FPT, has changed a lot. Especially in the Asian market, Vietnam has a unique position in IT services. Asia is the most developed place in the world. Famous powers also consider this the number 1 priority region.

Vietnam's strengths are its abundant resources and proximity to other Asian countries. Therefore, FPT companies in Asia have high growth and are constantly working. In the past, FPT could take 2-3 years to sign the first contract with a Japanese partner, but now FPT can sign deals in 3-6 months. "It's not that the Japanese have changed, they are still very cautious, but the timing is very favorable for Vietnam and for FPT," Mr. Tuan explained.

"Last March, we opened our third office in Korea and Dalian, China. FPT overseas has gone from being a worker, to developing into a full-service provider, and in the future, strives to "become a teacher," said Mr. Pham Minh Tuan.

More specifically, regarding the next goal in the foreign market, Mr. Tuan said: "We will move to a new level of strategic consulting, then realize the customer's strategy."

The secret to developing in foreign markets, according to Mr. Tuan, is to combine speed, youth with experience in the industry. "We cooperate with local people, promoting the recruitment of local people. Last year, we recruited 500 Japanese people to work. Not only in Japan but also in Korea and Europe," said Mr. Tuan...

Answering the question of why he chose Korea and China to open an office, Mr. Tuan said that FPT chose China because it is a large market. FPT's customer base that speaks Chinese is very large and FPT needs Chinese speakers. "Recently, we opened a branch in Dalian, China to help FPT access and recruit abundant local technology human resources, who are also good at English and Japanese and professionally trained here. According to estimates, the number of IT personnel proficient in Japanese in Dalian alone has reached 200,000 people. In China, we have 3 branches in Shanghai, Nanning and Dalian."

FPT Software's branch office in Dalian, China at the opening ceremony.

In Korea, FPT has just opened its third office to strengthen its technology resources and expand its network of operations in Asia and globally, in the context of increasing demand for digital transformation here.

FPT chose Daegu, the southern province of Korea, after having success in the north. In the second half of 2023, FPT worked with customer Daegu Banking Financial Group (DGBF) and had initial successes, so it decided to open more offices to support customers as quickly as possible.

Mergers and acquisitions to integrate local culture and expand customers

Explaining FPT's continuous mergers and acquisitions (M&A), FPT Corporation's Deputy General Director Pham Minh Tuan said that in order to expand its customer base and add local experts, going abroad requires not only capacity but also understanding and cultural harmony. FPT's outstanding point is that it is very sharing and trying to integrate with local culture. Vietnamese people have the ability to integrate and adapt to many cultures to build long-term friendships. Wherever FPT goes, it does not understand, it hires local people, integrates into the community and turns that into FPT's weapon.

Wherever FPT goes, it hires local people, integrates into the community and turns that into FPT's weapon.
Deputy General Director of FPT Corporation Pham Minh Tuan

When comparing between increasing foreigners and mergers, which way to grow faster, Mr. Tuan said: "Both ways have advantages and certain strengths. When buying and merging, we immediately have a local workforce with professional capacity."

Comparing whether to send Vietnamese people abroad or recruit local workers, Mr. Tuan said: "We use many measures: recruiting local people, sending Vietnamese personnel to work abroad. The advantage of sending Vietnamese personnel abroad is that FPT can clearly understand the capacity of Vietnamese personnel during the recruitment process. The advantage of local people is understanding the national and local culture. The important thing is to spread FPT culture to new employees, so that they understand and follow the spirit and aspirations of FPT".

80% of FPT Software's contracts are million-dollar contracts

Deputy General Director of FPT Corporation, General Director of FPT Software Pham Minh Tuan said that the value of FPT Software's signed contracts at this time increased 10 times compared to 2018. "We choose jobs and contracts that are suitable for the company's capacity and development strategy. On the one hand, we still have to develop traditional solution service areas that have potential, on the other hand, we explore new segments and reach new heights. FPT Software aims for contracts worth millions of USD. 80% of current customers are million USD customers."

According to Mr. Pham Minh Tuan, increasing the value of contracts also requires us to improve the level of experts to meet the demand. Currently, the proportion of employees under 30 years old accounts for 55.7% of the total number of employees in FPT. "How to develop them requires using many "martial arts". For example, we have Fresher Academy, applying AI to replace traditional training methods, bringing AI into personalizing lectures for learners," said Mr. Tuan.

By classification Gartner, FPT Software is currently in the top 150 largest IT Services in the world . Aiming for the top 50. This ranking is the guideline of FPT Software.

In Gartner's classification, over 5 billion USD is a large company. Our goal is to become a large service company, and FPT Software aims to reach 5 billion USD by 2030.

Invite customers to visit Vietnam

FPT Software branch office in Dalian, China.

Comparing Vietnam and India in the field of software development, Mr. Pham Minh Tuan said that our weakness is losing in quantity because India is too large, has too many choices, and the quantity is overwhelming compared to Vietnam.

In 2023, FPT welcomed 1,700 foreign delegations, more than the number of guests received by a travel company.

But Vietnam's advantage is culture, shared goals and efforts to integrate. They like to work with Vietnam, with FPT because of the closeness. "We work in the Asian way, valuing emotions and feelings, respecting the living and working culture of customers. We always find ways to invite them to Vietnam. When they come to Vietnam to visit and fall in love with the people, the country and the culture here, the cooperation will be smoother," Mr. Tuan shared.

In 2023, FPT welcomed 1,700 foreign delegations, more than the number of guests received by a travel company.

FPT aims to balance and not depend too much on one market. In 2023, FPT's markets will have a proportion of 7% - 38%. Of which, Japan: 38%; America: 29%; Asia-Pacific: 25%, Europe: 7%.

Each market has different strategies to compensate for the shortcomings. And FPT's goal is to continue promoting the European market to develop all four pillars in the long term in the process of penetrating foreign markets.

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