Pham Thanh Lam, a resident of Hoa Lu City (Ninh Binh Province), still remembers the times he handled land-related administrative procedures a few years ago. Each time, he had to prepare a thick stack of paper documents and queue from early morning at the Land Registration Office. On some days, the document reception stage alone took nearly 20 minutes, excluding travel time and the need to supplement paperwork if there were errors. However, during his most recent visit, the experience changed. His documents were scanned and submitted online in advance. When he arrived at the receiving agency, officials simply opened the electronic file on the system, cross-checked it with the paper version, and processed it immediately.
For citizens, such changes not only save time and effort but also create a greater sense of transparency and trust.
Progress from public services
After more than five years of implementing the National Digital Transformation Programme, Viet Nam has formed important foundations for a digital government, digital economy, and digital society. From national databases on population, land, insurance, and enterprises to online public service platforms and the VNeID electronic identification application, the digitisation process is gradually transforming management methods, public service provision, and interactions between the State and citizens and businesses.
According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, by the end of 2024, Viet Nam had provided more than 4,000 full-process online public services, while the rate of online dossiers on the National Public Service Portal exceeded 70%. In particular, in the fields of residence registration, citizen identification card issuance, and social insurance, processing times have been reduced from several days to just a few minutes, or even a few taps on a smartphone.
For urban residents, especially in Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, and Hue, digital transformation has brought about clear changes. Platforms such as “Da Nang Smart City”, “Hue-S”, and the Ho Chi Minh City Public Service Portal allow citizens to submit dossiers, track progress, and send feedback and petitions online, reducing direct contact as well as travel costs and waiting times. A 2023 report by the World Bank (WB) showed that in Ha Noi, nearly 90% of residents had used at least one online public administrative service, a rate comparable to many cities in the region.
For businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, digital transformation significantly reduces compliance costs. Electronic tax filing, e-invoicing and online business registration have saved trillions of VND in social costs each year. According to estimates by the General Department of Taxation, the application of e-invoices alone has helped businesses save approximately 1–1.2 trillion VND per year compared with paper invoices.
In the digital economy sector, Viet Nam is assessed as one of the fastest-growing markets in Southeast Asia. The e-Conomy SEA 2024 report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company stated that Viet Nam’s digital economy reached a scale of around 30 billion USD, with double-digit growth. This creates new development space for technology, logistics, e-commerce, and digital finance businesses, while opening broader market access opportunities for residents, especially in rural areas.
From a governance perspective, Associate Professor, Dr Nguyen Thuong Lang from the Institute of Trade and International Economics, National Economics University, believes that digital transformation is fundamentally changing the approach to socio-economic development management.
“From linear process-based management to management based on digital platforms, big data, and forecasting models, space and time in governance are being ‘compressed’, creating conditions for decision-making that is closer to reality and reducing policy lag,” Associate Professor, Dr Nguyen Thuong Lang said.
Digital gaps and uneven experiences
However, from the perspective of beneficiaries, namely citizens and businesses, digital transformation in Viet Nam still faces many bottlenecks related to institutions, implementation capacity, digital skills, access gaps, and digital trust.
According to the WB, in 2023, the rate of people using online public services in the Northern mountainous region was only about 35%, compared with nearly 90% in Ha Noi. This gap highlights limitations in digital skills, access to devices, and trust in digital services.
In the field of social welfare, in some localities, social assistance dossiers are still processed manually, and data has not yet been linked between health, labour, and insurance sectors. People, especially vulnerable groups, still have to repeatedly travel back and forth with paperwork and supplement dossiers, undermining the purpose of digital transformation, which is meant to serve the public.
Notably, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs (2024), only about 30% of commune-level civil servants are proficient in using administrative management platforms. This results in many online public services being “available but not truly connected”, with citizens submitting dossiers online but still having to provide additional documents in person, reducing user experience and trust.
From a business perspective, especially that of technology enterprises, the biggest challenge at present is the lack of a comprehensive legal framework for data and digital transformation. Sharing and connectivity of data among ministries, sectors, and localities remain limited, making it difficult for businesses to develop digital products and services in social fields such as healthcare, education, and social security.
Professor, Dr Dang Nguyen Anh believes that without promulgating a Digital Transformation Law with clear provisions on data management, sharing, and protection, Viet Nam will find it difficult to form an open digital ecosystem in which businesses can participate deeply in the provision of public and social services.
In addition, cybersecurity risks are becoming a direct challenge. According to the State Audit Office, in 2023 alone, nearly 13,900 cyberattacks were recorded, causing estimated losses of around 18.9 trillion VND. Online fraud and personal data theft erode the trust of citizens and businesses in the digital environment a key factor of digital social governance.
Associate Professor, Dr Nguyen Thuong Lang noted that compared with the Republic of Korea, Singapore, or Estonia, the gap in Viet Nam does not lie in the level of access to technology, but mainly in institutions and governance capacity. Experience shows that successful digital transformation requires synchronisation between technology, institutions, and people, an area that Viet Nam is gradually building but has yet to complete.
