The 6th International Conference on Modern Management based on Big Data (MMBD 2025)

Abstract: In this paper we perform extensive literature review in order to derive a definition of effective digitalization for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in terms of identified key performance indicators. We focus our research on the crucial role of customer satisfaction in the light of SMEs ability to respond to actual demands of customers as a result of their digitalization efforts. We further study through literature analysis the cognitive (rational) and the affective (emotional) component, being the building blocks of customer satisfaction. Among our major findings is that a notable emotional component is documented in the reviewed research works. While traditional customer satisfaction surveys are a conventional and widely applied tool, an increasing number of studies draw the researchers’ attention to social media platforms as a source of important information. Consequently, we propose an “emotional” lens methodology to reveal deeper insights on SMEs effective digitalization on the basis of social media data. The proposed framework employs AI tools in order to extract sentiment-driven knowledge to support the deeper understanding of digitalization dimensions that are barely studied. We illustrate the motivation behind the proposed approach through a case study for Bulgaria.

Biography: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Boryana Pelova is an internationally recognized professional with a career spanning over 15 years in the field of data analysis and large dataset processing. Her expertise extends across both conventional and cutting-edge machine learning techniques. She has made significant contributions to the academic and applied aspects of this domain via leading and participating in a number of research projects, aimed at improving society challenges such as air quality, prevention of depression, digitalization of public sector and SMEs, financial stability, etc.