Panel discussion at the SoDA Conference 2023
Challenges and opportunities of the German IT market for Polish IT companies
From 4 - 5 October, the SoDA Conference 2023 took place in Warsaw. The Software Development Organisation Poland (SoDA) hosts the prestigious conference annually, which has been bringing together top experts and companies since 2018 to discuss current trends and insights, provide valuable networking opportunities and promote the integration of the Polish IT industry in international markets. This year, over 500 representatives of the Polish technology sector attended, supported by 35 expert speakers ¬- one of them our colleague Florian Schmidtner, Head of Inward Investment. As a speaker at the panel discussion "Do you speak German?", Schmidtner was able to answer some of the most burning questions regarding entering the German IT market and offering services in a discussion with Jan Rogala (GFT Poland), Konrad Weiske (Spyrosoft) and Paweł Kwiatkowski (AHK Poland).
Moderated by Przemysław Mikus (SoDA, Liki Mobile Solutions), the panel discussion addressed the following important questions, among others:
Florian Schmidtner and his fellow panelists shed light on the importance of language and how it affects business opportunities in the German market.
This question is crucial as it provides insights into the expectations and requirements of German companies when it comes to business partnerships.
This focused on what products or services German customers are looking for and how companies can best meet those needs.
The experts exchanged views on the various regions of Germany and identified special features that should be taken into account in sales strategies. Here, of course, Florian Schmidtner was able to focus particularly on the economic region of Leipzig and its potential.
Resümee der Paneldiskussion
The summary of the panel discussion put particular emphasis on the importance of key factors for selling IT services abroad, such as recognising the customer's needs, building a relationship of trust with the customer and demonstrating credibility. A solid reference base, preferably from the same industry as the client, as well as German language skills were identified as indispensable components for this success. In this context, Florian Schmidtner from Invest Region Leipzig emphasised that the brand "made in Poland", especially in the ICT sector, is already well-known and highly valued in Germany. This underlines the strong position and potential of Polish IT companies on the German market.