Trust and transparency determine the success or failure of businesses in the digital decade.

VTV.vn - In the next decade, AI will play an important role in sales, but trust and transparency are still the decisive factors for business success.

At CSMOSummit 2025, the largest sales and marketing festival in the country held in Ho Chi Minh City, hundreds of senior leaders in the industry looked back at the transformation journey of Vietnamese businesses and came to a conclusion: the quantum leap of businesses does not come from technology, but starts from people - where trust and ethics are the underlying energy.

From Brand to People: Trust is an Asset

Opening the sharing series, Mr. Nguyen Duc Son, Chairman of Interloka Brand Agency, shared his view: "Customers today do not just buy products, they buy an ideal part of themselves in that brand."

Mr. Nguyen Duc Son shared at the event. Photo: DVCC

Mr. Son believes that businesses can only build strong brands when their products truly deliver value, are backed by a clear philosophy, and are committed to quality. "Trust cannot be bought with a media budget, it must be built through action, through honesty in every detail of the product," he said.

From a corporate culture perspective, Ms. Pham Thi My Le, Co-founder & President of SKALE, likens culture to "soft energy" that helps nurture sales teams in the AI ​​era. According to her, technology can optimize processes, but "emotion, intuition and understanding of people are still irreplaceable factors in B2B sales".

The speakers laid the groundwork for a truism that was repeated throughout the discussions: AI can process data, but only humans can foster trust.

If the brand is the story inside, then social media is the "stage" where businesses demonstrate their transparency and reputation. Mr. Lam Minh Chanh, CEO of BizUni, Fintech WikiMoney, asked a thought-provoking question: "Is Social Sales a gold mine of the digital age, or a graveyard of consumer trust?"

Mr. Lam Minh Chanh shares about social sales. Photo: DVCC

The answer, he says, lies in how businesses behave: "When you sell with value and speak with sincerity, customers don't just buy your product, they buy your people and your vision."

He emphasized that in the digital world , trust is the most expensive currency, which cannot be borrowed or bought, but can only be accumulated through small commitments every day.

This is also the spirit throughout the discussion session "Quantum of Trust - Ethics, transparency and trust: the new foundation for sales", where business leaders agreed that: internal transparency is the foundation for building brand transparency.

Ms. Dang Thuy Ha, Head of External Relations - CSMO North, shared that when employees do not clearly understand the core values ​​and vision of the business, it will be difficult for them to convey trust to customers.

Maintaining "Vietnamese quality" in leadership

From an outward-looking perspective, the conference sessions opened up an inward-looking perspective where leadership power is redefined in the ever-changing technological landscape.

Ms. Do Thuy Duong, Founder of The MAP, believes that Vietnamese leaders need to nurture "Vietnamese quality" with perseverance and inner discipline.

"People today are surrounded by countless temptations, 'cheap dopamine' doses that make us easily lose focus. But only when we maintain discipline and perseverance, can we have the strength to lead the organization to a mission greater than ourselves," she shared. According to Ms. Duong, discipline without faith only creates machines, but when faith and discipline are combined, people become the center of every leap forward.

From a technological perspective, Mr. Lam Binh Bao, Founder of B Coaching, believes that "to go far, businesses cannot rely only on popularity, but must rely on the system".

He describes the development path of the business through four levels: instinct – systematization – adaptation – and intelligence (Intelligent Sales System). At the final level, AI becomes a companion intelligence, helping the sales system learn and optimize itself in real time. However, this only makes sense when the data platform and people are designed in a synchronous and transparent manner.

This view was continued by Mr. Truong Ta, CEO of CareSoft, in the sharing about automation: "AI is only effective when placed on a standard data platform. Before dreaming of a breakthrough, businesses need to standardize people and processes."

According to him, data is a strategic asset more valuable than gold but only has value when operated by honest and knowledgeable people.

With a humorous yet philosophical style, Mr. Phan Tat Thu, Chairman of KNV Group, Co-founder of Elite PR School, likened honesty in business to the act of coming back stronger. According to him, all tricks will collapse if they do not start from the truth. When a brand dares to speak with sincerity, the wave of trust spreads faster than any media campaign.

“In a world where customers are both skeptical and trusting, only truth and human emotion can touch their hearts,” he said.

Mr. Le Quoc Vinh, Chairman of CSMO Vietnam, Chairman of Le Bros shared that Quantum Leap is not a leap into the future, but a deep touch into human nature where technology does not replace, but amplifies the capacity to love, understand and create.

VSMCamp & CSMOSummit 2025 with thousands of speakers and guests attending in more than 40 discussion sessions brought the latest insights and visions that are directional in the sales and marketing industry. Affirming that trust and transparency still play a decisive role in the digital sales era is a strategy that shows that the direction of Vietnamese businesses is still to put customers at the center, taking humanity and core values ​​as sales goals in the next decade.

Source: https://vtv.vn/niem-tin-va-minh-bach-quyet-dinh-thanh-bai-cua-doanh-nghiep-trong-thap-ky-so-100251027080813175.htm