The #digibiz team take part in COSBOA summit to address future of small business
Small businesses from around the country will be coming together on at the end of the month to discuss their future in an uncertain and rapidly changing market.
The Council of Small Buisness Organisations Australia (COSBOA) is hosting the 9th NAB National Small Business Summit at Sydney Olympic Park on 26-27 July. The event is expected to bring together more than 400 small business owners, senior management, government departments and association representatives to talk about the big issues facing small business.
According to COSBOA Executive Director Peter Strong, this year’s summit may be the ‘most important ever’. Small business accounts for over 95% of all Australian businesses and employs over 5 million Australians. Strong points out that while many are doing quite well, a lot are struggling in the current economic climate. The Summit will provide small business leaders and owners with an opportunity to agree on what is necessary for the continued growth of the sector.
Of course, in the modern world having an online presence has become an important part of doing business. Unfortunately, small business continues to be underrepresented in the digital economy. ABS data shows that 45% of Australian businesses with internet access had a web presence in 2009/10. When we look at business size however, only 33% of business with less than five employees had a web presence compared to 77% of businesses with 20 or more workers. So issues related to the digital economy feature heavily in the summit’s scheduled program.
In particular, there are plenary sessions dealing specifically with the issues of social media (cutting edge tool or marketing gimmick?), how to use your website to generate revenue, and whether the internet actually does even the playing field for small business.
The Department of Broadband, Communication and the Digital Economy will be at the summit, showing businesses how they can use the digitalbusiness.gov.au website to either establish their business online or improve their existing online presence. We will also have plenty of information on cyber security.
We will be joined by representatives from the NBN Co throughout the day, who will be able to answer questions about how businesses can utilise the reliable high speed internet capabilities that the National Broadband Network will deliver to take their business services and market reach to the next level.
In total the summit will comprise of 12 business development seminars, a dinner with the Treasurer Wayne Swan, a business breakfast, six keynote speakers, a small business ministers round table and plenty of small business case study presentations.
Can’t make it to the summit in Sydney? How about taking part as a virtual delegate? The summit will be webcast live and delegates will be able to view the videos on demand for six months after the event. You stay on top of all things National Small Business Summit on twitter by following @COSBOA and even participate in discussions through the @COSBOA #NSBS hashtag.
We will also be tweeting updates from the event, so make sure you follow the Department at @DBCDEgov. And if you aren’t already on twitter, get some useful tips from one of our recent blogs.
So if you are at the summit, make sure you come and say hi to the team. But in the mean time, tell us whether you think that the internet does even the playing field for small business.
- Natalie, DBCDE
