What sets Home Credit Vietnam’s IT team apart

Digital transformation technologies have made our lives more convenient and diversified. At Home Credit Vietnam, we are committed to driving innovation in each consumer finance product offering that creates seamless digital experiences for our customers. And we can only do this because of the indispensable contribution of our very talented IT team.

To further explain our goals, we would like to introduce Home Credit Vietnam’s Head of IT Development, Tu Pham, the “captain” of our IT team – Stream Gamma. Bringing more than 15 years of experience in many fields, Tu is leading a group of 35 members, which tremendously contributes to ensuring Home Credit Vietnam’s leading position in consumer finance.

Let’s sit down with our thought leader to learn about his stories behind the company-wide transformation, what sets the IT team apart, and his message to his future colleagues.

1.As Head of IT Development – Stream Gamma, what goals did you set for yourself when joining Home Credit?

When joining Home Credit Vietnam, at that time, it was undergoing Agile Transformation, a new operating model for the entire company. Agile Transformation is a challenging problem to solve, not only because of the technology involved but also because of the organizational structure and new way of work. Fortunately, we had an experienced CIO to lead us through the transformation. With his assistance, I was able to get up to speed quickly in the early stages.

However, moving to an Agile operating model is challenging, especially for established companies like Home Credit Vietnam. Any Agile transformation across the company needs to be comprehensive in the strategy, structure, people, processes, and technology. At that point, the two biggest challenges the IT team was facing were people and technology.

Regarding the people aspect, in particular, the issue derived from the mindset. We had to move from the old-fashioned way of being assigned tasks by the superior and getting them done passively to the mindset of becoming more proactive when can work well independently and collaborate effectively.

Not only that, adopting the technology, including architecture evolution and IT infrastructure and operation, was also one of my goals. Speaking of consumer finance technologies, they are genuinely sophisticated and complex. We as a whole were spending a lot of time taking up “new toys” and becoming “experienced players” on this exciting yet challenging game.

It sounds like a long journey, right? These were the two grand challenges where I had to go the extra mile to help my team overcome and contribute to the successful company transformation. Finally, we did it with flying colors.

2. What a challenging but aspirational story from the beginning of your new journey here! Can you share what Home Credit Vietnam’s IT team is working on at the moment?

Of course, I would share first that most IT teams in Vietnam are likely to have the same goal: To support all company's departments in offering better digital experiences to customers. Our team is no exception, yet I would elaborate on the IT Team's responsibilities at Home Credit Vietnam. Precisely, there are three streams, including Alpha, Beta, and Gamma:

• At Stream Alpha: We focus on data and provide relevant stakeholders a data platform. Based on that, they could gain deeper insights into the current market and our customers.
• At Stream Beta: The team supports the sales department and customers to have a seamless digital experience on all online channels.
• At Stream Gamma, my team: We strive to ensure the back office's operating systems run smoothly and efficiently integrate with internal stakeholders, thereby contributing to scaling up our business.

In conclusion, you can understand that we are trying our best to fulfill our goal: The more stable our online systems are and the smoother our collaboration is, the more our customers feel good with our products.

And how can we do this? As mentioned above, we have taken on the Agile operating model in our business. The transformation with fewer layers of management empowered our employees to work independently and solve problems themselves. Early this year, Home Credit Vietnam started running the Business Stream collaboration model, enabling all streams to focus on customers and understand the market. In my opinion, these two new ways of working are mutually supporting. From that, the IT team could collaborate flexibly and effectively with different streams at the same time to promptly deliver on what customers need.

3. Thanks for the detailed explanation. We know that one of HCVN’s missions is to “Transform the way the world shops”, what’s your team contributing to this ambition?

Nowadays, more and more companies have become more tech-forward than ever due to the tremendous benefits of technology innovations. And "Transform the way the world shops" means we want to provide our products to customers entirely online with reliable, effective, and seamless experiences anywhere, anytime. That's why we have been accelerating the digital transformation to make our customers feel good.

To help you understand this idea, imagine that if there is a misstep in a seamless digital process, the whole system will stop immediately. Indeed, the IT team is the backbone of this journey to make that mission come true. Here are the things we do every day to ensure seamlessness alongside the best experiences of our product offerings to customers. What's better than talking about the team's successes by seeing how rapidly the development rate of digital products launched to the market to serve customers?

4. We really want to get to know the IT Team, so what are some of the best things about your team that you would like to share with us?

That’s a good question. For me, if I had only two words to describe our team, they would be talented and enthusiastic.

To be more detailed, I would say the IT team consists of many talented go-getters with a growth mindset and solid expertise. For instance, in March, our MAMBA TEAM was formed by four members (including me) from the IT team, excellently winning the 3rd prize at the very first global No Glitch Hackathon. This is a competition organized by Home Credit Group where we bring the Anomaly Detection for Surveillance Systems project to achieve an operation level with zero incidents.

There’s an old saying, “Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.” It’s certainly true in the IT team and becomes an essential ingredient for our success. As a result, it is demonstrated via the spirit in either all works we are involved in or in every activity we attend. I am delighted to share that the IT team, by itself, hosted the very first Home Credit Cup in April with the participation of 12 teams from Home Credit and our tech partner companies. Fortunately, our team accomplished a fantastic result with 2nd place at the final.

"Many people ask me what sets Home Credit Vietnam's IT team apart, and the answer is simple. It lies in the people we get to work with, the mission our work provides to customers, and the values we take pride in".

And the thing that makes me most proud of the IT team is that they are completely proactive in all their work. So how to make it happen? This culture has been built to create an environment that constantly encourages our team to be more proactive, and consequently, it comes from their side as well. I can’t expect more than that, we are now united and driven to achieve our ambitions and help our customers feel good.