Minister of Information and Communications Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng granted the awards to businesses in the VNR500 ranking. Photo vietnamnet.vn

HÀ NỘI Firms in almost all key sectors have set digital transformation as a priority strategy, which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Minister of Information and Communications Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng.

Hùng made the statement at a ceremony held in Hà Nội last week to honour the 500 largest enterprises in Việt Nam (so-called VNR500) and top 10 most prestigious companies in 2020.

The event was co-organised by the Việt Nam Report JSC and VietNamNet electronic newspaper.

The minister said digital transformation would help Vietnamese businesses change their thinking and business ways. The approach and application of the model of digital transformation into business activities plays a particularly important role, both as a premise and a prerequisite for businesses to grow to new heights and fulfill their mission make Việt Nam strong.

Pharmaceutical companies paid more attention to artificial intelligence while travel agencies used digital technology such as augmented or virtual reality to introduce their products, he added.

A survey of the VNR500 companies by Việt Nam Report showed that 64.8 per cent of respondents said COVID-19 has pushed quicker digital transformation among businesses, with 19.8 per cent using cloud computing, 19.3 per cent using big data and 7.3 per cent choosing Internet of Things (IoT).

VNR500 and Top 10 most prestigious companies in n 2020 aimed to honour large-scale enterprises with efficient and sustainable production and business activities in the context of difficulties and challenges caused by COVID-19.

The ranking was based on research results and independent evaluation following international standards.

This year’s VNR500 ranking continued to recognise the growth of businesses in the service and industry sectors, accounting for more than 97.3 per cent of the revenue proportion. The sectors with high growth potential and a large proportion of revenue in the VNR500 Ranking 2020 included finance, food - beverage, construction - building materials - real estate, telecommunications - informatics - information technology.

In the VNR500 Ranking in 2020, in general, most of the sectors have average revenue growth of 12.52 per cent. In which, there are many industries with double-digit revenue growth such as engineering, construction – building materials - real estate, finance, transportation - logistics, telecommunications - information technology.

Phạm Anh Tuấn, editor-in-chief of VietNamNet, said 2020 recognised many great successes of Viet Nam in the context of global upheaval. Thanks to the efforts and consensus of the Government, businesses and people across the country, Việt Nam achieved GDP growth of 2.91 per cent, fulfilling the dual goal of both effectively preventing COVID-19 and developing the economy. Thereby, it has raised the level of the Vietnamese brand.

“Entering 2021, the world economy is still trying to “heal the wounds” caused by the pandemic and Viet Nam is no exception. However, with steady momentum in recent times, the country has confidence and motivation to build a prosperous Viet Nam in the near future. Businesses in the ranking have a significant role to contribute to the achievement,” he said.

This is the 14th year the VNR500 has been announced. On the VNR500 list are Samsung Electronics Thái Nguyên Co Ltd, Việt Nam Electricity (EVN), Việt Nam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group (Viettel), and Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex), among others. VNS