Small Business Month '26 | Seeing Through Your Customer's Eyes | 29 Oct

Welcome to Small Business Month: Seeing Through Your Customer's Eyes

Customer service is more important than ever as a way to keep and win customers.

Some staggering facts emerge from Australian customer research undertaken by hello22.ai:

consumers spent more than 123 million hours on hold in 2024-2025
79% say they'll take their business elsewhere after a poor /slow service experience
82% expect phone support to respond in under 2 to 3 minutes
In small business: AI adoption is real - but uneven

This session is designed to highlight innovative ways for small businesses to enhance their service offerings and think beyond traditional frameworks.

Seeing Through Your Customer's Eyes

This session presents an opportunity to explore how culture, context and lived experience shape service needs - and how small, well-placed interventions can improve outcomes.

The evening will include a facilitated panel discussion around:

Customer Context — understanding who your customers are.
Service Trajectories — understanding their experience over time.
Customer Needs — recognising the help, service, support or care required.
Critical Moments — identifying where small interventions matter most.
Practical Innovation — improving services without major investment.
Insight Activation — turning customer understanding into action.

The key theme that will emerge is that better customer insight is not necessarily about collecting more data. It is about understanding the customer more deeply and knowing precisely when, where and how to act.

The Panel

Dr Moira Scerri, Senior Lecturer at UTS Business School. Moira specialises in service innovation and complex sociotechnical systems. Her research explores how culture, context and lived experience shape customer needs. Drawing on extensive industry experience, she helps businesses translate customer insights into practical improvements that strengthen services and outcomes.

Anna Acopian, CEO of SafegateAI, the founder of Tech4Growth Australia and a global AI adviser, keynote speaker and mentor. A technology strategist and human centred AI leader, Anna dedicated to making AI work safely, equitably and practically, with a career spanning more than two decades from finance into partnerships, cyber security and AI. Anna speaks globally on responsible AI, digital equity and technology governance, and is an active mentor to leaders stepping into AI accountability for the first time.

Stefanie Costi, founder of Stefanie Costi & Associates, is a lawyer, speaker and writer. An advocate for safer and fairer workplaces, Stefanie draws on her lived experience of workplace bullying to support people facing bullying, harassment, discrimination, unfair dismissal and complex employment challenges. She established her firm in 2025 to help people when work becomes unsafe, unfair or overwhelming. Stefanie speaks at conferences, corporate events and leadership forums on practical ways to protect people and strengthen workplace culture, with a commitment to making workplaces better globally.

Rick Myatt FAICD FAIM founded Australian Travel Careers Council (ATCC) in 2012, and he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer. He is a lawyer and holds degrees in Law, IT and Marketing. His role centres on driving workforce development, education, and career pathways for the next generation of travel industry professionals. Following the ATCC's strategic evolution, Rick’s primary mandate is to narrow competency gaps, combat post-pandemic talent shortages, and connect classrooms to active careers. In this capacity, he maintains a close collaboration with industry and government stakeholders on various reformative policies and joint initiatives.

Key event sponsors

Agenda

5.30 - 5.45 Welcome and Introduction
5.45 - 6.15 Keynote Presentation
6.15 - 6.30 Interactive Q & A
6.30 - 7.30 Networking/ Close

Here are some images from our recent networking events

Remember Members and Guests are welcome to attend.
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This CBD business community is working for business

This Chamber of Commerce is actively involved in advocating for businesses, providing access to training opportunities, identifying collaboration opportunities and supporting businesses by providing access to information and local and government support.

Membership Counts

Members and Non-Members can participate in our events and programs.

A strong Chamber needs strong Membership.

If you are not yet a Member join online and start taking advantage of our Member Growth and Concierge services to grow your network & business even faster.

Be even better connected

Expanding business networks & thought leadership programs including monthly After 5 Networking; coaching & networking through the CBD Women in Business Network; creating business referral opportunities through the CBD Roundtable series and bringing businesses together through the annual CBD Expo
Increasing the visibility of your business through inclusion on the Member Directory
Log into the CBD Memberzone to connect with members, make offers and research opportunities
Access to market-leading business legal and HR services to support your business through the Business NSW Business Hotline

Add to this:

accredited Diploma training through aEX Institute at discounted rates*, Contact nicola.curtin@aexinstitute.edu.au
discounted health insurance through Westfund Health Insurance offering members a 5% discount + a 2 month waiting period waived on Extras cover
discounted rates for BIDLOGIQ services. Please visit their webpage www.bidlogiq.ai to book a demo and/or connect with mike.pascale@bidlogiq.ai for any follow-up inquiries.