DigitalK: The Future Will Not Wait

DigitalK 2018, a leading European event for digital technology, took place last month in Sofia, Bulgaria. In this blog, Alexandrina Shipochky gives her account of the conference.

We are happy to share that Progress was part of DigitalK, one of the biggest technology and entrepreneurship conferences in Bulgaria. Now in its seventh year, DigitalK 2018 took place from May 31 to June 1, 2018, in Sofia. Progress has been a partner of the event for a couple of years now.

Every year, DigitalK gathers experts from different areas: economy, blockchain, fintech, augmented reality and more. More than 40 speakers take the stage each year and more than 2,500 business professionals, marketers and entrepreneurs attend the event. The conference is organized by Economedia, one of the leading media groups in Bulgaria, and by two venture capital funds: LAUNCHub Ventures and NEVEQ.

DigitalK 2018 was dedicated to digital transformation and covered a range of hot topics from the technology world that have an impact on our daily lives. Attendees learned more about online marketing, artificial intelligence (AI) and risk capital.

Hristo Borisov (who played a pivotal role in launching our AI-driven chatbot platform, NativeChat) delivered a presentation about chatbots. While talking about how AI and chatbots can transform the customer experience, he gave interesting examples of intelligent chatbots being able to reserve a room, sign up for health insurance, book a ski trip or schedule an appointment with a doctor after being asked to do so by a human.

According to him, one of the challenges with today’s chatbots is that they don't possess long-term memory. Businesses have to make sure that if they store any information in them, everything is GDPR compliant.

Borisov has worked with more than 160 companies that were interested in integrating a chatbot, and he was eager to share a few key findings. He said it is important for businesses to first set their expectations and understand what kind of a chatbot they need. There are two types of chatbots: transactional (able to perform limited pre-defined tasks) or knowledge-based (like Siri and Cortana). He added it is important for companies to cooperate as partners.

Lubomira Rochet, Chief Digital Officer at L’Oreal, talked about leading digital transformation at L’Oreal. She stressed that personal care companies like L’Oreal have started investing in beauty tech. L’Oreal recently acquired ModiFace, a company specialized in augmented reality and AI. Rochet’s talk was indicative of the big transformation happening in companies across all industries. The digital disruption brought by new technologies has hit almost every industry.

In conclusion, the DigitalK conference reminded me how fast the tech world is developing and how big a part of our daily lives this new technology has become. These tools and applications not only transform our day-to-day communication but also influence people’s behavior, values and expectations. Digital transformation is everywhere. Businesses turn to AI, VR or AR to be able to better connect with their customers and offer them what they expect in this fast evolving digital world.