Digital Transformation Accelerated in Many Sectors

Thai Nguyen province has made great efforts recently to carry out the digital transformation program, aiming to shift toward a digital government, a digital economy and a digital society to enable the effective implementation of the province's socioeconomic development plans in the new context.

Speeding up digital government

Thai Nguyen Provincial People's Committee announced that it had 1,231 administrative procedures of Level 4 eligible for being provided on the province's online public service portal. The electronic portal system, the specialized data transmission network, and the online video conferencing network are working well and effectively.

Mr. Do Xuan Hoa, Director of the Department of Information and Communications, said Thai Nguyen province is one of the leaders of digital transformation, launching digital transformation resolutions and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Specially, to speed up digital government construction towards a smart city, some localities in the province have deployed very creative experimental models for replication. Typically, the "paperless meeting room" model developed by Thai Nguyen City has been deployed since the beginning of June 2021. This model is applied to meetings of the Party Committee, the People's Council and the People's Committee of Thai Nguyen City.

Driven by the Digital Transformation Program, Thai Nguyen province aims to have 90% of public services of Level 4 delivered online by 2025, accessible by various means, including mobile devices, and electronically handle 100% of records at the provincial level, over 90% of records at the district level and over 70% of records at the commune level.

To achieve these goals, from July 2020, the province has operated the Intelligent Operation Center (IOC), located at the headquarters of the Provincial People's Committee. IOC is considered a "digital brain" of the province, capable of integrating available data and systems with control software, enabling information field connection and data extraction; receiving information and feedback from people and businesses; serving research, direction and administration of governmental agencies and all levels of government in an open and transparent manner.

In the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation tools such as IOC or C-Thai Nguyen application, with 100,000 downloads after just over four months, have effectively supported governmental operations. C-Thai Nguyen is a tool for connecting authorities, people and tourists to send information with photos and video clips on inadequacies that need to be handled in the locality.

"Despite being only the first step, these results show the resolution of the entire political system in strongly accelerating digital transformation in the province," said Mr. Hoa.

Toward a digital society

While fostering digital government, Thai Nguyen has been making efforts to develop the digital economy and the digital society. The province aims to have over 3,000 digital enterprises by 2030; increase the share of the digital economy in each industry or field to at least 20%; universalize the coverage of 4G/5G mobile networks; and have at least 80% of people with an electronic payment account. It will stand among Top 10 provinces and cities in the country in network security.

To achieve the above goal, the province has made quite solid progress. For digital economic development, Thai Nguyen piloted smart tree management solutions and built a smart tree management system on digital maps. The industry and trade sector deployed an online petroleum business management system, and an online investment attraction support and industrial zone management system.

The electricity industry launched a new online electricity supply service for customers, using digital signatures for both electricity buyers and sellers.

With its digitization goals, the Department of Education and Training applied an educational model that integrated science, technology, engineering and mathematics to ensure all local educational institutions use financial software, asset management software and school management software; and granted Microsoft Teams accounts for teachers and students on the Microsoft Teams online teaching platform.

The health sector developed the Smart Health Information Technology Development Project for the 2021 - 2025 period and submitted it to competent authorities for approval. It created electronic health records for 500,000 people, accounting for 40% of the population; launched health information management software to 178 grassroots health stations; and integrated national pharmacy management software for new pharmacies and drugstores.

Thai Nguyen is one of the first localities to develop and issue a thematic resolution on a digital transformation program. The province also made December 31 Digital Transformation Day of Thai Nguyen, becoming the first in the country to have a Digital Transformation Date.

This landmark event and annual activity will help the province assess digital transformation results; share experiences, introduce solutions, connect digital transformation supply and demand, and strongly foster the digital transformation process across the province.

By Vietnam Business Forum