Vietnam loses US$731 million each year due to lack of connection between public service networks, said Microsoft’s Manager Lorenzo Madrid quoting a World Bank report.

Like many other countries, Vietnam has to deal with more requests from citizens. To improve capacity, lessen mistakes and avoid overlap between government agencies, connection between them is a must.

Connecting public service systems helps reduce complications and management costs. People don’t have to go to different administrative units and this saves their time, said Microsoft officials.

However, according to Microsoft representatives, the biggest hindrance to the connection of networks of government agencies is differences between IT systems. It is important to apply software that is compatible with other systems.

Microsoft said that besides technology, policy and management are two key factors in the inter-connectivity of the government.

Vice Chief of the Ministry of Information and Communications’ IT Application Agency Pham Van Hai said that IT systems in government agencies only ensure connection inside each agency.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has implemented some solutions and issued some IT application standards and guidance documents for the connection of government agencies.

“We have to further speed up the connection between information systems to better serve the exchange between government agencies, to better provide information and service to the people and businesses in the process of e-government development,” Hai said.

Two years ago, Microsoft and the Vietnamese government signed a deal to implement an e-government project in Vietnam, with technology and solutions provided by Microsoft.

VietNamNet/VNE