THE RELATIONS BETWEEN BULGARIAN AND AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES ARE AT A VERY HIGH LEVEL

As far as high-tech industries are concerned, the US and Bulgaria are not at opposite ends of the world, but are very close countries. We have a very fast pace of development of the software sector in Bulgaria, and our country has the image of a quality software destination. All of this, together with the perfect relations between the American Chamber of Commerce and the high-tech associations in Bulgaria, are very good prerequisites for even better cooperation.

This message was expressed by Dobroslav Dimitrov, Chairman of the Board of BASCOM and BRAIT, and Victor Bilyanski, member of the Board of BASCOM during the Explore U.S. Tech Webinar. It was organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria (AmCham Bulgaria) together with the Executive Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (EAPME) and in partnership with the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Association of Software Companies (BASCOM).

Referring to the experience of his company ScaleFocus, Victor Bilyanski noted some best practices for working in the US market. According to him, in order to succeed in the US, it is important to first solve a specific customer problem and build trust. “However, there is no one-size-fits-all recipe that can be applied to all types of businesses. Each business brings its own specifics. It is also important at what stage of development the company providing the product or service is itself. For start-ups, it is usually a little more difficult because it is not clear whether they can generate enough added value for their potential customers, whether they have references and whether they can be sustainable over time. For companies that are fully localised in Bulgaria it is even harder because they have to be much better than their competitors in the US, noted Victor Bilyanski.

However, the distance in processes is shortening significantly with the artificial intelligence boom we have seen recently. According to Dobroslav Dimitrov, the penetration of artificial intelligence at all levels in the business processes of companies enables an equal start in their development and strengthens the opportunities for partnership and quality exchange of experience.