AWS bridges the gap for Vietnamese businesses to "accelerate"

A recent IDC report found that 70% of organizations in the Asia-Pacific region have begun exploring and committing to investing in generative AI technologies for their business.

“This is also true in Vietnam. Generative AI is now having a significant impact on business leaders, and is playing a transformative role in every industry and sector in the country,” said Emmanuel Pillai, Director of Training & Certifications, AWS ASEAN.

Mr. Emmanuel Pillai, AWS Training & Certification Director ASEAN.

In recent years, AWS has invested hundreds of millions of dollars globally, through providing free cloud computing skills, AI skills and low-cost training courses, AWS is committed to training more than 29 million people worldwide in cloud skills by 2025.

“But, we have ‘reached the finish line’ ahead of schedule,” Mr. Emmanuel Pillai revealed. Currently, the global cloud computing solution provider has trained 31 million workers with cloud skills. In Vietnam alone, AWS has trained over 50,000 workers with cloud skills through three approaches: focusing on training human resources with skills in generative AI, cloud and cloud-based technology.

Mr. Duong Ngoc Toan, Head of Cloud at FinX and HDBank shared: “At HDBank, we consider cloud computing not only as a technology but also as an effective tool to accelerate innovation programs and improve workflows and internal processes”.

With the support of AWS, HDBank has accelerated product development, with technologies and support from AWS, HDBank has developed highly reliable systems, enabling seamless and secure financial transactions.

For example, the time it takes to develop a product is now about 40 to 60 percent faster than before.

Mr. Duong Ngoc Toan, Head of Cloud at FinX and HDBank.

As one of the participants in the AWS cloud training course (AWS First Cloud Journey), Nguyen Tran Quang Nguyen, a cloud and Devops engineer at HDBank, has "harvested" results beyond expectations.

Graduated from university with a major in aeronautical engineering, but Nguyen “turned around” when he realized the great opportunity of cloud computing taking place in Vietnam. With a passion for new technology, through searching and learning, Nguyen became a member of the First Cloud Journey community – a community that provides members with comprehensive knowledge about cloud computing and automation hosted by AWS.

Through the AWS First Cloud Journey program, Nguyen received completely free training and had enough knowledge to pass the AWS Certification exam and had the opportunity to work at HDBank as a Cloud Engineer. AWS First Cloud 2023 is the "key" for Nguyen to get a job at HDBank.

His colleague, Nguyen Huy Dinh, who works as a Cloud Data Engineer at HDBank, added: “The power of cloud computing in the field of Big Data is undeniable. With just a few steps, AWS-trained engineers have the infrastructure to process millions of data rows from different sources with just one Amazon EMR or AWS Glue service. All the knowledge I learned from the AWS First Cloud Journey program can be directly applied to my work at HDBank.”

Committed to continue accompanying

Sharing about the plan to accompany Vietnamese enterprises in the context of the economy in the digitalization phase, Mr. Emmanuel Pillai affirmed: “With the initial achievements of more than 50,000 trained engineers, we are committed to continuing to train Vietnamese organizations and enterprises in generative AI and cloud computing in the digital transformation journey to soon exceed this number.”

At the recent AWS Cloud Day Vietnam event in Hanoi, AWS also announced that two Vietnamese startups, AI Hay and Kompato AI, have been selected by AWS to support their development. The two companies will receive "AWS credits" worth the equivalent of $1 million to build, train, test, and launch generative AI solutions.

AWS Cloud Day Vietnam event organized by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Hanoi.

The program lasts 10 weeks at Amazon's headquarters in the US. Upon completion, the two startups will be able to build a complete product and introduce it at one of the company's largest startup events today, re:Invent, later this year.

The startup selection is part of AWS’s $230 million plan to accelerate global AI application development, focusing on early-stage startups. This year, AWS supported 80 companies from more than 4,700 applications from 129 countries, with three projects selected in Southeast Asia alone, two of which are Vietnamese.

According to Ms. Priya Lakshmi, Head of Startup Business, AWS ASEAN, startups like AI Hay are leading a wave of transformation, pushing the boundaries of AI and bringing new innovative solutions to the market.

AI Hay is a social network designed in the form of questions and answers, using AI to generate answers for users. According to the founders, the product applies large language models and is customized to Vietnamese culture. Meanwhile, Kompato AI of Trusting Social is considered a pioneer in applying AI to the Account Management platform for consumer lending organizations.

“Being supported by AWS can help the company accelerate its AI development and elevate its solutions,” said Tran Duc, CEO of AI Hay.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nguyen An Nguyen, CEO of Kompato AI, said: “Joining the AWS support program is an opportunity to introduce how generative AI can create new innovative methods. This program also helps Kompato AI expand its solutions to Asia and the Americas.”