Nguyễn Đặng Tuấn Minh
Digital transformation and green transformation for SMEs do not take the form of “mega projects.” Instead, they happen through very small, fragmented, and practical steps: an accounting software, an inventory management system, digital payments, or basic data tools. These “small value additions” often determine the survival of SMEs, yet they are precisely the elements most overlooked by markets and policies.
Within the IDAP project, enterprises from Lao Cai visited Nam Cao tussar silk village, where social media has been used to revive fading traditional craftsmanship. Photo: IDAP.
Amid the wave of digital and green transformation—accompanied by grand narratives such as Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, net zero, circular economy, and sustainability—SMEs face a very different reality. They struggle with payroll, orders, and cost control, and can only afford small-scale transformations to stay afloat.
In practice, most SMEs cannot access breakthrough technologies. They therefore start with solutions that are cheap, small, and fast: accounting software, inventory and sales management systems, e-commerce platforms, cloud services, collaboration tools, e-invoicing, and digital payments. More recently, some have begun experimenting with data and AI, but mainly through pragmatic applications such as customer-service chatbots, marketing content suggestions, basic demand forecasting, or simple cash-flow analysis.
At the same time, a wave of green transformation is arriving. SMEs are forced to think about energy use, emissions, waste, product life-cycle traceability, and environmental standards imposed by the supply chains they participate in. As with digital transformation, SMEs do not need “super-green” projects, but rather small solutions that help them measure, optimize, and save—such as energy monitoring, basic emissions data recording, or process adjustments to reduce material waste.
When these two waves arrive simultaneously, the need for “small value-added” transformations becomes clear. The question is whether policies and markets are designed to help SMEs reduce costs while transforming—so they are not excluded from supply chains due to lack of data, transparency, or green compliance.
The Reality of Dual Transformation: Policy Opens the Way, SMEs Remain Stuck
Globally, surveys by OECD, WEF, and APEC show that SMEs accelerated digital adoption after COVID-19. Many became accustomed to remote work, online sales, cloud services, and collaboration tools. A significant share plan to increase spending on cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, data, and even AI in the next one to two years. However, many SMEs remain stuck at the level of “basic digitalization”: social media presence, some accounting software, online meetings—without a data strategy, analytical capacity, or systematic automation. Around 40% of European SMEs consider themselves “not ready” for the next stage of digital transformation—a clear warning sign.
Green transformation is even more complex. Studies in Europe show that SMEs account for roughly 60% of business-sector emissions, yet sit in a capability gap: lacking capital, knowledge, and tools to measure and manage emissions. Despite pressure from net-zero targets, supply-chain standards, and new environmental regulations, most SMEs have only changed awareness, not yet implementation.
Vietnamese SMEs face similar challenges, compounded by local constraints.
On the policy side, the government has deployed three major levers to stimulate the B2B technology market for SMEs. First, digital transformation support programs, with “Make in Vietnam” platforms packaged for SMEs, reaching hundreds of thousands of firms with materials and training. Second, a legal and incentive framework for the digital industry, setting ambitious targets for digital enterprises, digital economy share, and mechanisms supporting SMEs to adopt and test technologies. Third, digital finance, with data-driven lending models integrating e-invoices, cash flows, and inventory data to enable faster credit scoring with less reliance on collateral.
In parallel, green growth, net-zero, and circular economy policies are being mainstreamed from central to local levels. SMEs in export-oriented sectors—agriculture, processing, textiles, footwear—are increasingly feeling pressure from traceability requirements, environmental standards, and ESG reporting demanded by international buyers.
Yet investments of only a few hundred thousand to a few million USD for transformation are too small to be considered “large tech projects” by banks or investors, but too risky for SME cash flows.
As a result, most Vietnamese SMEs remain at a superficial level of digital and green transformation. Over 60% cite high costs as the main barrier, more than half struggle with legacy practices and lack internal skills. SME access to bank credit remains far lower than that of large firms, with an estimated credit gap of tens of billions of dollars. Small, fragmented technology upgrades are often absorbed into working-capital needs and never treated as transformation investments. Green transformation, meanwhile, largely remains at the awareness stage, with no shared language to measure emissions, energy, or waste.
Three Gaps Locking SMEs into Small-Scale Transformation
First is the financing gap for “small value-added” digital and green projects. Investments of a few hundred million to a few billion VND—for management systems, semi-automation, energy measurement solutions, or traceability platforms—are too small for banks and investors, yet too risky for SMEs. Financial markets are designed for short-term working capital or large-scale projects, leaving a vacuum for tailored financing products that repay gradually based on actual savings and value created.
Second is the capability gap in absorbing and translating needs into projects. Most SMEs lack digital transformation leads, environmental experts, or data teams. They feel the pressure of net zero, AI, and ESG, but cannot translate these trends into concrete tasks, priorities, and feasible roadmaps. Meanwhile, technology and green service providers often fail to understand the specific operational contexts of small firms across sectors and regions, leading to misalignment and missed opportunities.
Third is the gap in B2B product and intermediary service design. Many solutions are still sold as standalone software or hardware, rarely bundled with financial models or linked to operational outcomes. Intermediary organizations—capable of assessing SME maturity, designing micro-projects, mobilizing both technology and capital, and measuring impact—are still under-recognized as essential market actors.
The Opportunity to Build a Small-Scale Dual Transformation Market
At the SME level, digital and green transformation are inseparable. Digital tools enable measurement and optimization of resources and emissions, while green pressures push firms to invest seriously in data and management systems. International organizations increasingly describe them as “twin transformations”: digital to see clearly, green to go far.
For technology companies and B2B startups, this is a market for small but smart solutions: integrated management systems tracking both operations and environmental indicators; inventory and traceability platforms serving customers and banks alike; AI tools helping SMEs understand and reduce energy costs; simple dashboards showing revenue, costs, inventory, and energy-water-material consumption on a single screen. If designed well, such solutions can deliver 4–15% cost savings in some sectors, while reducing operational risk and opening new markets.
For financial institutions, dual transformation enables data-driven green finance. Using accounting, e-invoice, energy, and traceability data, banks can improve credit scoring and design tailored loans for digital and green investments. When repayment is linked directly to cost savings or value creation, risk- and benefit-sharing models become viable for SMEs.
For intermediaries—incubators, innovation centers, SME support organizations, industry associations—the opportunity lies in architecting right-sized transformation pathways: classifying SMEs by digital and green maturity, identifying the next feasible small step, connecting appropriate technology providers, co-designing finance with banks, and tracking impact.
If SMEs and their small value-added technology needs are truly placed at the center of digital and green strategies, the question shifts from “a few large pilot projects” to how hundreds of thousands of small steps can happen continuously, safely, measurably, and with shared learning. This is how a real market for small-scale dual transformation can emerge—forming the true foundation of an innovative, green, and digital economy, rather than a handful of symbolic success stories.
Source: Tia sáng
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