10th Annual Salesforce Conference: Digitalization lessons for higher business efficiency
The 10th Annual Salesforce Conference, held in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Bucharest, Romania from March 21-23, 2023, celebrated a decade of fruitful collaboration between Salesforce and Next Consult. The event attracted over 500 executives from prominent Central and Eastern European (CEE) companies to discuss their experiences and insights on business digitalization.
Orlin Dochev, Founder and Managing Partner at Next Consult, delivered an impactful opening statement, highlighting the company's 13-year history of completing over 500 digital and business transformation projects, with more than 5,000 client meetings.
He stated, "With this conference, we aim to share the wealth of business knowledge we've accumulated across various industries during this period."
In Bucharest, Liviu Carcia, CEO at Next Consult Romania & Managing Partner at btProvider, added,
"In an ever-changing and unpredictable world, digitalization has emerged as a powerful ally to help us navigate our modern era's complexities. Now is the time to TAKE THE LEAD and become a pioneering force in your industry, setting a benchmark for others to follow."
The conference was expertly moderated by him in Romania and the exceptional Natali Trifonova, TV host at BTV, in Bulgaria.
Tackling Sales Challenges
Over 70% of companies face sales-related issues, including structuring the sales process, resolving distribution partner problems, and managing an abundance of inquiries. Next Consult experts outlined six crucial steps for implementing a successful CRM system to address these challenges.
Dochev explained that the first step involves working with clients to clearly define their goals and identify the problems they wish to resolve, such as increasing sales, responding faster to customer inquiries, improving customer satisfaction, expanding internationally, enhancing reporting, or addressing other concerns.
Uniting the Business Community
The conference showcased more than 20 speakers with proven expertise and extensive business experience. Attendees learned about digitalization processes from leading companies in finance, media, pharma, agriculture, logistics, insurance, and iGaming. Top panelists shared personal stories of how Salesforce and Next Consult helped transform their businesses, offering practical insights and best practices for driving business growth in 2023 and beyond:
- Andrey Bankovski, Commercial Director at Payhawk,
- Yana Karadzhova, Director Salesforce Applications at Teva,
- Irina Porrouzian, Commercial Director at Netinfo,
- Ivo Kumanov, Chief Executive Officer at NIK Electronics,
- Ionut Gabroveanu, CRM Head at Generali Romania,
- Andreea Radu, Marketing Director at Cargus,
- Alexandru Coclisan, COO at Vantage (part of NIK),
- Andrei Popa, Director of Business Intelligence at Superbet.
High-level executives from Salesforce, FinancialForce, Tableau, Mulesoft, and Slack also inspired the audience with tips on fostering stronger customer relationships while increasing efficiency and reducing costs:
- Mitka Avramova, Regional Vice President Sales at Salesforce;
- Liubov Malykh, Senior Partner Manager, A&C Indirect Markets at Salesforce;
- Andy Campbell, Global Solution Evangelist at FinancialForce;
- Tibor Horvath, Marketing Cloud Account Executive CEE at Salesforce;
- Reza Kavanagh, Senior Account Executive, Enterprise | CEE & CIS at Slack;
- Istvan Viz, Territory Sales Manager - CEE region at Mulesoft;
- Vlad Stoica, Enterprise AE - Salesforce Commerce Cloud at Salesforce;
- Vladi Nikolov, eCommerce architect at Next4Commerce and C4Nexus,
- Cristian Mihalca, Enterprise Sales Director SEE at Salesforce;
- Tudor Trof, Tableau Strategic Account Executive at Salesforce;
- Razvan Diaconu SEE Account Executive at Salesforce.
Andy Campbell, Global Solution Evangelist at FinancialForce, shared a poignant message about the digitalization process: "When digital transformation is done right, it's like turning a caterpillar into a butterfly. But when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar."
Lastly, Liubov Malykh launched the Bring Women Back to Work program in Bulgaria and Romania. By supporting female career returners, it advocates for diversity and inclusion and helps create a more gender-balanced workforce in IT!
Education: The Key to the Future
The event featured the announcement of Next Consult's partnership with Teach for Bulgaria, a non-governmental organization, and the launch of the #TheNext10Schools campaign.
Trayan Trayanov, Executive Director of Teach for Bulgaria, emphasized that incorrect incentives and a lack of leadership in the education system lead to a significant waste of human potential. Teach for Bulgaria aims to address these challenges and ultimately provide better access to quality education for all children in Bulgaria. Svetozar Georgiev, Member of the Management Board of Teach for Bulgaria, added that significant improvement in the education system is the only path to long-term prosperity in the country.
Recognizing that education is the foundation for successful digitalization and overall societal development, Next Consult is committed to supporting such initiatives that improve educational institutions.
Dochev shared, "There are so many talented people in our country who need very little to unlock their potential. We believe that only quality education can improve everyone's life in Bulgaria. We also believe in the people behind Teach for Bulgaria's cause, and we're proud to make it our cause as well."
