FPT's Tech Talent Tackles Legacy Challenges at Chelsea & NHS

When Mark Scrivens, UK CEO at FPT, took on his role at the Asian technology services provider 18 months ago, he discovered something unexpected: a workforce that challenged his long-held assumptions about offshore development.

“I've travelled to India a lot, to China, to Malaysia, to the Philippines. What stands out in Vietnam at FPT is that there are quality people everywhere,” Mark says. 

“I think what we have is this unique blend of skill and culture and that curiosity, the willingness to ask a question to challenge in a very polite, almost deferential way.”

FPT, the Vietnamese technology services provider, has established its reputation by addressing the complex legacy systems often sidestepped by Western counterparts.

While much of the UK market has already shifted simpler workloads to leading cloud platforms such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services, Mark contends that the true frontier lies beyond this.

“The untouched area is where the really hard work lies, the legacy platforms that no one wants to touch,” he explains.

“This is where the engineering heritage of our people comes in. We're not developers who are given a problem just to follow instructions to complete it. Our guys are much more about wanting projects that are interesting and meaningful, not something mundane.”

Adopting an engineering-first mindset has allowed FPT to stand out in a competitive market.

The company has honed specialist expertise in mainframe modernisation, with its engineers proactively learning COBOL – a programming language dating back to the 1960s that continues to support many financial systems – to meet market demand.

“We've literally had people off their own back going, I'm now going to learn COBOL because we see an opportunity here,” Mark reveals.

This approach has drawn clients from diverse sectors, spanning FCA-regulated lenders to global drinks companies managing extensive brand portfolios.

Mark highlights that FPT’s engineers engage clients with a spirit of constructive challenge.

“They'll push back if they think the direction that a customer's wanting to go down is the wrong one, they'll say, ‘I don't think you should do this because X, Y, Z, and if we did it this way, it is better,’” he explains.

"And more often than not, our customers will say ‘this is what we want, this is what we're crying out for.’”

Building talent from the ground up

FPT’s distinctive edge is rooted in its integrated education system.

Nguyen Khai Hoan, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer cum Chief Operating Officer at FPT Software, describes it as a comprehensive talent pipeline under his leadership.

“We manage 150,000 learners from elementary school education, training and university,” Mr Hoan explains.

“From the very beginning, we’ve been very much focused on all of our internal training and education.”

At the company’s university, students dedicate their first year to mastering English before moving on to technical disciplines, with martial arts woven into their daily routines.

“It's about discipline and concentration,” Mr Hoan says. The approach reflects what he calls the “FPT DNA” – a data-driven, engineering-focused culture established by the company's mathematician founders.

This educational foundation underpins markedly lower staff turnover than is typical in other offshore locations.

Whereas Indian technology hubs often face churn rates of 20% to 30%, FPT sustains levels below 10%.

“People want to stay and work for FPT. They're looked after. There's a real family culture,” Scrivens says.

The company’s commitment goes further than commercial education.

Mr Hoan explains that FPT also operates schools for orphans, known as Hope Schools.

“There are many people who lost family during the COVID crisis and we received those students, supporting them and giving them a new future and trajectory for their lives,” he explains.

Raising visibility through strategic partnerships

The company has pursued high-profile partnerships to raise its profile in Western markets, notably including a technology partnership with Chelsea Football Club. 

“We knew we needed a vehicle to elevate our brand in the West,” Scrivens explains. "We did a bit of research, and it was very clear the Premier League was the number one product in elite sports - the return on investment is incredible.”

For Mark, the relationship with Chelsea Football Club goes beyond conventional sponsorship.

“We wanted this to be two-way. It's not about sponsorship, it's about helping each other,” he says. 

As Chelsea Football Club’s technology partner, FPT tackles complex engineering challenges and drives digital innovation projects.

This partnership serves as a showcase for FPT’s capabilities across multiple sectors, leveraging the Premier League’s global reach to provide visibility as FPT expands its footprint in Western markets from its London base. 

The choice of London as FPT's UK headquarters reflects strategic thinking about market access.

“To get customers to come and to get prospects to come and visit us in our office is much easier,” Scrivens explains. “London's where the first steps are probably easier for us.”

Embedding AI agents across operations

The company is rapidly integrating AI agent technology into its service delivery across industries.

It sees particular potential in the insurance sector, where legacy data complexities and compliance costs continue to pose challenges. 

“We start using these AI tools to cleanse data, to basically code legacy products of which there are thousands. This is going to put a whole new perspective on the insurance world,” Scrivens suggests.

For Mark, the evolving AI landscape demands workforce adaptability.

“Whatever we're learning today, it's going to be something else tomorrow. And this is the continuous cycle,” he says. 

He believes FPT’s engineering-focused talent pool equips the company well for this environment. "Because our people are at the top end, they're very adaptable and very flexible.”

Proving value through delivery

FPT’s confidence in its capabilities extends to its commercial approach across sectors.

The company has proposed outcomes-based arrangements to potential clients, including the National Health Service, underscoring its commitment to delivering measurable results. 

“We'd love to partner with the NHS – to be able to come in and say, give us a problem, we'll fix it, and if we don't, we won't charge you,” Scrivens reveals. “I don't know any other provider that would do something like this.”

The company has introduced what it calls “prefab pods” – ready-assembled scrum teams of flexible sizes created to give clients swift access to FPT's Vietnamese engineering expertise.

These units can be mobilised at speed, enabling projects to get underway without the prolonged onboarding often linked with offshore collaborations.

Although partnering with Vietnamese engineers does deliver cost advantages over Western-based alternatives, Mark stresses that the real benefit lies beyond pricing.

“There is a financial benefit, but actually, the real value of FPT is the quality and cultural difference that comes through,” he concludes.