ISB VIETNAM CO.,LTD Outsourcing & Product

ARTICLE

March 2, 2023

How does IVC respond to Vietnam’s drastically changing labor market in the IT industry?

(*This Blog Post was created based on the interview with Mr. Onogawa Yasuto - IVC General Director after 1 year of applying Motivation Cloud to the company’s employee engagement improvement.

* The interview content was also published on the website of Link and Motivation Inc. Company at: https://www.motivation-cloud.com/case/isb-vietnam)

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IVC (ISB Vietnam Company) was established in 2003 by ISB Corporation and is celebrating the 20^th anniversary establishment this year. Our main business is offshore software development, and in recent years, we have been working not only with Japanese customers but also with other overseas customers. Currently, we have about 100 engineers who are diverse and well versed in a variety of expertise in software development outsourcing.

IVC Office - Working Station

The General IT industry in Vietnam has an issue with a high turnover rate. With more and more foreign companies entering the Vietnamese market, we have seen wage increases over the years, and the gap in salary ranges between companies is getting wider and wider. Similarly, if we look at Japanese companies, the current situation is that there is also a salary gap between companies like ours, which mainly focus on offshore development, and other companies that mainly focus on product development.

Therefore, enhancing employee engagement and improving the turnover rate is always a concern for IVC. With this in mind, we have implemented various measures before, but they have tended to be from our management’s perspective and have not been effective as expected. Since the relationship with employees had been a one-way street, we wanted to understand “how employees feel about the company.”

Mr. Onogawa Yasuto - IVC General Director

After carefully researching and evaluating a variety of related human resource systems in the market, we have decided to apply The Motivation Cloud System from the beginning of 2022 with the expectations that this system would support our management to understand how employees actually felt about the company and pinpoint countermeasures then address these issues.

After one year of applying the Motivation Cloud, we believe that the greatest strength of this system is its ability to quantify organizational status by score, which supports us to have an objective assessment of our organization. Moreover, all IVC employees are now able to send out messages and express their intentions through these surveys. It is very important for our company to listen to the voices of employees- we thought.

Especially, in the second survey, when we asked, “How do you feel about this type of initiative (survey)?”, more than 70% of the respondents replied they thought it was a good idea. It was the motivation for the company because our employees have a favorable impression of the survey.

Based on the survey results, we are immediately starting to review our benefits policies. We have many benefits policies, some of which have not changed at all over the years. While we can assume that employees are satisfied with some of the policies and whether or not some policies are utilizing the benefits properly, we have not been able to find out until now.

Since Motivation Cloud allows us to add optional qualitative questions, we knew how employees felt about the benefits, making it easier to make decisions such as “this is fine as it is” or “this doesn’t make sense, let’s change it.” In the future, we will be able to focus on more effective benefits.

After hearing the voice from employees and finding out which policies and activities in the company are evaluated as effective, the company has been putting effort into upgrading some current benefit policies and organizing many company activities to enhance employee engagement.

Moreover, it is important to communicate our philosophy and vision and to make employees empathize with the value of the company’s existence and the direction it is aiming for. This will give employees a reason to stay with the company other than just the salary, and this will make IVC become a stronger organization. The Fixed-points of observations were made on Motivation Cloud so that we can raise not only the “satisfaction level” but also the “expectation level” by consciously communicating the company’s policies.

Salary and benefits are, of course, also an immediate issue in improving turnover rate. The survey also identified this as a priority area for improvement, and it is also linked to the turnover rate. And in order to cope with the changing environment, the company is planning to develop a strategy for the future, including a change of business.

IVC will continue to utilize Motivation Cloud from now on, but on the other hand, we do not think it is a good idea to rely too much on the idea that “using this system will make the company better.” The key point is how the company can make use of it and what measures the company can take based on these results.

In Vietnam, We think there are still a few Japanese IT companies that focus on employee engagement and improve their companies by listening to employees’ opinions. In this respect, we believe that IVC is ahead of the rest, and we would like to take more and more measures to build a strong organization.

INFO

February 9, 2023

Company meeting & New Year Party 2023

2022 year was considered as the year of the economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, but this was really a year of economic volatility and challenges.

In the Company meeting which was held on January 13, 2023, BOD already shared with all IVC employees the overview of the Company's business status in 2022 and the business plan in 2023. This was the time for IVC to look back at the actual achievements and not achievements as well in 2022 and point out our strengths, weaknesses in management so that together-we will make IVC grow up further in the future.

To contribute to the success of IVC in the past year, the contributions from employees are indispensable. The Company meeting was also the time to honor individuals and teams who have excellently completed the company’s objectives, as well as gained trust and satisfaction from customers.

Also in this meeting, the General Director introduced the company's official video to celebrate 20 years anniversary in Vietnam market and shared the company's vision and expectations for the next training trip in Japan for all IVC staffs. 2023 year is really a meaningful and desirable year for IVC .

In the context that the joyful atmosphere of the Lunar New Year was coming very soon, a warm party to welcome the New Year was highly anticipated. With the message “Tet - a reunion festival", the BOD hoped to organize a warm party with all IVC family, that was why the New Year Party was held at the IVC office in a very new look since renovation. An exciting musical performance and attractive-prize Lucky Draw program were the highlight of this party, which attracted and connected all IVC members very well.

Let's look back at the moments when luck knocked on the door of IVC members.

The moment of calling the lucky name of the special prizewinner - iPhone 14 Pro Max really made the whole company explode.

The journey of 2023 has just started, let's join hands and continue to contribute to a successful new year!!!

CAREERS

February 8, 2023

IVC E-club official launching!

English has been and being used at IVC as the main language for internal communication. Creating an environment to practice and commute in English so that all members of the company can confidently communicate in English has become a concern for the BOD.

Understanding the expectation from the BOD, since December 2022, HR&GA Department has officially operated the English club (E-club) activity as a place to connect all employees who would like to practice English and to create a learning and exchanging environment English for all IVC members.

E-club is held at 15:00 every Friday with the main activities being discussion and presentation on the selected topics. By being open, exchanging, and learning without becoming overly academic are the principle of E-club. Especially, at E-club everyone will communicate entirely in English during 60 minutes (completely do not use Vietnamese or Japanese).

Engulfed by the Christmas mood, the E-club kicked off with the topic "Merry Christmas" in December 2022. Despite being the first topic, the e-club attracted everyone's enthusiastic participation. Discussing Christmas-related activities, the joiners had lively activities.

Even with being busy with a "series" of deadlines and year-end tasks, events, the second topic "Look Back 2022" received a very positive response from everyone. Especially with the participation of Steven teacher, all participants had the opportunity to practice English with a native teacher. It was really nice.

The E-club embraces all comments and suggestions from everyone as well as welcomes collaborators from all departments in IVC to make the E-club to grow and become a cohesive and reliable weekly destination for all English lovers.

The E- club's activities will be updated monthly in the next posts. Join us to discover what will show up in upcoming blogs.

ARTICLE

February 3, 2023

Why is Vietnam the next hottest destination for software development outsourcing?

Technology is one of the most important assets of a country and is a crucial driving force behind the economic development of a country. Behind the technological growth of all the industries lies software development and Vietnam is emerging as one of the hottest destination for software development not only in South east Asia, but in the entire world.

With a population of over 100 million in 2022, Vietnam is the 16^th most populous country in the world. Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the largest city is Ho Chi Minh City (commonly known as Saigon), where most of the corporates are located and is the business city of the country. Vietnam is a member of prominent organizations like the United Nations, WTO, ASEAN, APEC, IFI, IMF, World Bank Group, Asian Development Bank etc. Vietnam is a growing favourite for FDI, with Singapore being the largest investor.

The outsourcing services in Vietnam offers a range of services from custom software development to dedicated offshore teams. The key factors which makes Vietnam a favorable destination for software development outsourcing are:

Education
Skillset and workforce
Initiative by the government
Work Culture

Education: Education in Vietnam is primarily run by the state and it has an extensive network of schools, colleges and universities which provides quality education at affordable price. There are 419 institutions for higher education with more than 250,000 students graduating every year. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) is the most preferred branch of study by Vietnamese students, followed by Business & Management and Physical/Life Science. Overall Literacy rate of Vietnam is 94.52% and youth literacy rate is 98.06%

Skillset and Workforce: The Median Age of Vietnam is 32.5 years, which means that it has a young work force. According to the Global skills Index Report, published by Coursera, Vietnam is ranked 35^th globally in skill trends among 102 participating countries. Vietnam is progressing from a low-tech manufacturing economy to a service-oriented economy and hence, fintech, artificial intelligence, ecommerce and software development has become important, as more and more people are adopting digital means. Vietnam has become a tech hub for technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Blockchain, Cloud Computer, etc.

Initiative by the government: Developing a skilled workforce is one of government’s top priority. With this aim, the government has launched the National Digital Transformation Programme by 2025 with a vision towards 2030. The country is taking measures to attract FDI to accelerate a digital shift and automate processes. Some of the prominent goals included are:

Online banking operations - 50 percent of banking operations by customers to be fully online; 50 percent of population to have a digital checking account; 70 percent of customer transactions made through digital channels.
Digitalization of Govt. Services - 80 percent of online public services at level 4 to be online with access on mobile devices; 90 percent of work records at ministerial and provincial levels are online while 80 percent of work records at district level and 60 percent of work records at commune level are processed online
All national databases including those for population, land, business registration, finance, and insurance are to be made online and connected with shared data on a government reporting information system

The government wants the digital economy to contribute 20 percent by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030 to the country’s economy. It also aims to be in the top 50 countries on the UN’s ICT Development Index as early as 2025.

Work Culture: Just like any other country, Vietnamese people have their own way of doing their work. Their traits include virtues such as punctuality, dutifulness, reliability, and responsibility. In business building, trust and relationship plays an important role. A typical work week in most of the companies is 40 hours/weeks. Some companies also work for 48 hours/week. A typical workday begins at 8am-9am and ends at 5pm-6pm. The time difference of 12hr with the western countries enables the availability of 24 hours of productivity. Since Vietnam is a developing nation, the billing rates are moderate and can result in a huge cost saving and thereby, making it a favorable destination for businesses looking for cost-effective solutions with cutting edge technologies.

Conclusion: Vietnam provides an excellent balance between cost-effectiveness and productivity, making it a favorable destination for outsourcing software development, for both an established enterprise as well as startups. The quality of the employees, the initiatives by the government and the work culture all help towards the common goal of making it as one of the most powerful hubs for software development outsourcing in Asia and the world.

(Kindly contact us for specific sources of the information)

ARTICLE

November 16, 2022

How to find passion in a new workplace

Young adults who have recently graduated from college may not have too much difficulty finding a career that they are truly passionate about. Additionally, it implies that we can swiftly acclimate to the new work environment. However, it can be challenging to adapt to the new environment with aspiration, rather than just for survival. And I used to think that I just needed to learn how to survive in the new environment. But after working at the company, Business Development Department in particular for a while, I realized that I needed to find passion and interest in the work and environment in which I’m working. That is what fully adapting to the new working environment means. In this blog, I would like to share 5 ways how to find passion in a new workplace that I have learned from my experience and hope they will be helpful to you.

Concentration:

When starting your job, you need to make this job your priority and put all your focus on it. This is one of the most important things I learned after working for a long time. I used to handle multiple tasks at once in the past. I thought I would save time by doing so. But because of that misconception, my tasks could not be completed on schedule, or even worse, I made a lot of mistakes and omissions. After these mistakes, I realized how crucial concentration is. You must probably be aware of the 30 days rule of adapting. According to the rule if you do something for 30 days straight without any breaks and with all the focus, the entire thing becomes easy for you to handle.

Make a plan:

I wouldn't have wasted as much time worrying about adjusting to the new working environment if I had planned ahead of time. An example is when I started work at a new workplace, I could barely handle and complete the work on time. But fortunately, I received advice from my superior and coworkers that having a clear plan would help me do the job more efficiently. It's amazing that I not only complete every task successfully but also enjoy taking on new challenges. And at that moment I realized that not only was I doing a job that I loved, but I was also working in a wonderful environment.

Always ask yourself questions and seek answers:

One effective way to help me keep the flame of passion for the work is to continually ask questions and seek answers. It's been incredibly intriguing to get the responses to the questions I came up with. I could learn many of the positive aspects of whatever task I was doing and also identify unexpected mistakes. Nothing is greater than being able to learn from mistakes and advance in knowledge at the same time. And more positive is that my manager and coworkers were always willing to share advice to correct the issues if I couldn't figure it out on my own. These elements are what enabled me to discover my passion for both my career and the workplace.

Seek out a mentor:

Here, "mentor" refers to my supervisor and coworkers. It was great that I have the opportunity to work with them and get insightful counsel and guidance regarding my line of work, workplace, and even life experiences. As a result, I can now complete practically all tasks given to me swiftly and flawlessly. I've come to understand how vital this workplace is where I can continually learn and improve.

Take care of yourself:

The proverb "health is gold" and "health is everything" are not coincidences. Having good health is always my top priority. I always finish my task on time and get good results when I work with a relaxed mind and energetic body. Maintaining the flame of passion in our work or even the working environment won't be a problem once the task is successfully completed, especially for the job we dream of. If we work on our dream job but we frequently miss deadlines or struggle to complete them. We are not managing the tasks successfully. And as we get more disinterested in the dream, we will gradually grow tired of that job. On the other hand, when the tasks are completed in the finest possible manner, we will feel at ease and enjoy the feeling of exhilaration. And when we are content and at ease, it is easy to sustain and grow our initial passion for our dream work or even the task we have never attempted.

In short, finding a dream job is not difficult, but how to maintain that job for a long time is not easy at all. And the key to answering that question is your workplace. Because everything we do becomes special and meaningful once we find our passion in the workplace, even the most mundane tasks become far more intriguing.

ARTICLE

October 31, 2022

THANK YOU! MOM, WHOM I LOVE MOST!

In this article, we would like to introduce to you the article that has conquered the Judges to be the winner of the Blog Contest on topic "Thanks Mom" and "Mom's Memories". According to her share, this is the first time she has enough courage to write love words like this to her dear mother. How about you? Have you ever shown your love, gratitude to your mom in your own way?

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THANK YOU! MOM, WHOM I LOVE MOST!

I had read a quote like this:

“One to five years old, home is everything

In primary school, home is the evening

In high school, home is the weekend

In college, home is vacation

After graduation, home is Tet”.

The previous days, when I read quotes like this, I probably just skimmed them quickly because I thought they were meaningless. But perhaps when time goes by, our thoughts will also become deeper and more complicated so when reading this quote again by chance, my mind suddenly becomes more chaotic. Thinking carefully, it is true that for children working far from home like me, the amount of time spent by family and parents is really shrinking. I wonder how much time I have left to be able to be with my loved ones, especially with Mother - the most important woman in my life.

Thinking scatteredly, a few memories, a few moments about my mother associated with my growth milestones suddenly rushed back, although it was just a few small things, it was enough for me to know that having mom to be with me on the life journey is always the most wonderful and happy thing!

Remember when I was a child, there was a year when the winter was suddenly much colder, and all of my friends were bought an eye-catching woolen scarf by their parents to wear to class. However, my mother was different, instead of buying ready-knitted scarves, she meticulously selected each roll of the warmest woolen and worked hard to knit for me one scarf. She was so busy all day, so she took advantage of her time at night to knit for me quickly because she was scared of cold weather, I would not be warm enough to get sick. The color of that scarf may not be the most eye-catching, not the most outstanding, but for me, it is the most beautiful scarf, a limited edition just for me. That scarf I still keep until now, every time I see it, the feeling of happiness always makes me smile.

At the age of eighteen, everyone will have to face one of the first big decisions in their life to choose the right direction for the future, and successfully reach the university gate, I am lucky that my mother is always my psychological friend and always by my side. She does not force me to do what she wants, instead, she helps me give advice, and helps me know my strengths and weaknesses so that I can make the best decision by myself. That year, I was successful with my choice. Maybe the feeling of satisfaction at that time I no longer remember, but the happiness and pride in my mother's eyes at that time is something that I cannot forget.

After graduating from university, I chose to stay in the city to develop and challenge myself. Mom agreed with my decision, but I knew she worried a lot too, it was just that she wouldn’t express it. Just graduated, the pressure of work and the deadline made a tough girl like me seem to doubt my ability. Every time my mom phoned, I always told her that I was good all the time. However, even though she only saw me through the screen of her tiny phone, she still recognized my sadness, she just gently encouraged "don't feel too much pressure", and "I believe you can do it". My mother's words are simple and ordinary but contain great spiritual strength to help me overcome that hard time, giving me the motivation to try harder every day.

Through the milestones of growth, looking back, I always feel fortunate to have a mom who is always by my side, giving me advice, giving me strength, but it seems that I have never directly said thank you to my mom because the loved words are difficult to say. Looking back and forth, the time I spent with my mother is limited so I will always cherish the moments that I have with my mom, and will practice saying loved words while I can so that I will not regret something. These narrative lines, not sure my mother can read, but from the bottom of my heart I want to say: "Thank you! Mom, whom I love most!"

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INFO

October 31, 2022

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY - HAPPY VIETNAMESE WOMEN'S DAY 2022

October 20th is known as Vietnamese Women’s Day – the day we give best wishes and meaningful presents to the women that we love and cherish.

And October 20th this year, IVC spent this special day to express gratitude and respect to all the most beautiful and strong women – they are Mothers or the most important women in the life of all IVC members. And in the series of events to welcome this special day, IVC organized a BLOG CONTEST on the topic “Thanks Mom” and “Mom’s memories”.

Although the first time IVC organized a blog contest, it received a positive response from all employees. Perhaps it was because the Blog’s topic has touched everyone's heart and it was a good playground for everyone to express their feelings and emotions to the mother that are difficult to express in words directly.

After reviewing the sincere feelings articles of the participants, our General Director (GD) decided to send these letters directly to the dear mothers along with the dear messages written by GD and a bouquet from the company instead of a greeting and respect from IVC's representative.

Hearing from the participants, beloved mothers who received a letter written by their own son/daughter and a letter from GD are very surprised and touched, even some of them cried when they read these letters. We thought that this was a great emotion that this contest has reached and was a great motivation for Organizers team to hold more and more meaningful event like this.

Besides, the company has also sent small gifts to all mothers, or most important women of all IVC members. May our dear mothers be healthy and happy, and will always be pillars of strong faith of all IVC members.

It could be said that all articles of this blog contest are a very valuable tribute to mothers or most important women of the authors. Conquering the Judges with emotional feelings and honest memories, with the image of a strong and loving family girl, the blog with topic "Thank you! Mom, Whom I love most" has gained the most excellent scores from the Judges and was the winning blog of this Contest. Let's look forward to reading the winning blog which will be published very soon.

Once again, congratulations the winner and thank you to all of the participants joining this Blog Contest.

SDGs

October 14, 2022

Goal 12 - IVC participated
in the campaign “Clean Up
The World 2022"

One of the important Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that IVC is striving towards in this year is to ensure sustainable consumption and production pattern (Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production).

Nowadays, with the tendency of applying science and technology, electronic devices are becoming more and more popular and indispensable in the production activities of enterprises as well as in daily life. Accordingly, electronic waste (e-waste) disposal is becoming a major problem of the whole society.

Proper collection and recycling of e-waste is the key to protect the environment and reduce climate-damaging emissions. And this target was the main motivation for IVC to participate in the campaign of “Clean Up The World” held at Aeon Mall Tan Phu (Ho Chi Minh City) in two days of September 24 & 25, 2022.

In response to this meaningful campaign, in the morning of September 24, 2022 (Sat), IVC’s representatives brought the company's e-wastes to the booth of “Vietnam Recycles Company” at this campaign so that these e-wastes could be treated safely in accordance with the professional process that meets the standards of environmental law.

Let us look back at some images of IVC employees at this event:

We believe that by spreading the good meaning of these kinds of community activities, not only IVC employees but also their families, friends will gradually form the habits of proper e-waste disposal and environmental protection.

Finally, we would like to thank Vietnam Recycles Company and Aeon Mall Tan Phu for organizing a very meaningful campaign so that IVC had the opportunity to participate in and spread the message of environmental protection to all our employees.

INFO

October 6, 2022

COMPANY TRIP 2022 – THE TRIP OF ENGAGEMENT

Leaving behind the busy life, hardships and difficulties at work, together- IVC family enjoyed a meaningful and memorable Company Trip at Carmelina Ho Tram Resort in 3 days 2 nights from September 17 to September 19, 2022.

Company trip is an annual activity of IVC as a thank you message from the Board of Directors (BOD) to the valuable efforts and great contribution of all employees.

“The trip of engagement” - This was the expectation of BOD for this year's company trip. After 3 quarters of hard work and continuous deadlines, challenges, this trip was an opportunity for all participants to tighten the spirit of solidarity, recover energy so that when we returned to work, all of us would be more energized, more excited and ready to overcome all barriers, challenges to continue accompanying IVC in the journey ahead.

Besides some activities such as mini games, paintball shooting, Tropicana water park, foot massage and other services at the resort…, the Gala Dinner of company trip is always the most anticipated activity of IVC members. And this year's Gala Dinner on the second night didn’t make us disappointed, it was really explosive. All participants created a vibrant atmosphere filled with laughter. Our colleagues were no longer "introverted and quiet people" as usually, together- we played very hard because we were really “one team – one family – one IVC”

From the point of view of Organizer Team, we think that the best thing left after this trip is the openness, dynamism and united spirit of all participants. There was no longer a distance; we were really one team – one family – one IVC, so that when we returned to work, we could become each other's trusted colleagues.

Thanks to BOD for giving us the opportunity to join this meaningful trip, thanks to all participants for joining us.

Together – all of us had a journey of engagement – a memorable trip.

See you all in the next trips with new journeys and new experiences!

INFO

September 13, 2022

YOU WERE SO GREAT- OUR BADMINTON PLAYERS!

Last Saturday - September 10, 2022, the IVC badminton team with a total of 6 male players divided into 3 pairs, represented the company to attend the "TAN BINH DISTRICT TRADITIONAL BADMINTON TOURNAMENT- 247 CUP” which was organized by the Business Association and Labor Union of Tan Binh District.

Although this was the first time our badminton team participated in a district tournament, we played very hard, promoting the spirit of sportsmanship and solidarity. The final result was that all our three pairs were lucky to advance to the 2nd round of the tournament.

Although we could not go to the final round of the tournament and win the championship trophies made of elements such as gold, silver, or bronze, our players have done much more, they won the trophy made of “solidarity” to all the fans and all IVCers.
Together, we did our best and we were the winners. The only thing that we are missing is the playing experience - which will definitely be perfected in the coming years- we believe!

In order for the tournament to be a great success, we would like to express our deep gratitude to the BOD for creating conditions for our team to participate in the tournament and the most sincere thanks to the many fans who came to cheer on us. The enthusiastic cheers of the fans boosted the spirits of all players and made an important contribution to the success of this tournament.

This year's badminton tournament has ended and left many unforgettable memories.
Once again, thank you for the enthusiastic competition of all players!

We still have many appointments at the IVC Badminton Club every Tuesday & Thursday! Let’s join us.

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