Salesforce, Nine Ad Manager, Cisco, and Optus are all set to feature as official partners of the third annual CommBank SmallBiz Week, which will take place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre next week,

The event aims to connect suppliers from diverse industries with small business owners and leaders, with a focus on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.

Optus will bring its FutureFit workshops to the Expo to support the growth of small businesses. "Optus is a champion of small business,” said Optus Vice President for Small Business, Emma Jensen. “According to RMIT and Deloitte, the digital skills gap is costing Australian businesses $9m per day. That’s why we see digital education as such a critical initiative to support the growth of small businesses, and why we have brought our FutureFit workshops to the Expo. It is vital for small businesses to understand and harness the power of technology to help them thrive – and Optus are committed to playing a key role in that.”

The event will also feature workshops and live stages presenting opportunities to learn about the latest products, services, and technologies. Over one hundred thought leaders, business leaders, and industry experts will speak at the event. The CommBank Live Stage will cover topics relating to the latest AI technologies, operations, human resources, and marketing.

The CommBank Young Hero Awards dinner will kick off the week on Tuesday 28th May at The Langham Hotel. Awards include the CommBank Entrepreneur of the Year, Nine Ad Manager Rising Star Award, Optus Sustainable Entrepreneur Award, and Salesforce Indigenous Entrepreneur of the Year. The final day will start with the CommBank Business Leaders Breakfast on Thursday 30th May. Keynote speakers at the breakfast include Lt. Gen. Michelle McGuiness, Head of Cyber Security, Australian Government, and Rebecca Warren, CBA Executive General Manager Small Business Banking.

"We’re proud to be a sponsor and look forward to meeting growth-focused leaders we can work with to help solve their business challenges. We’re joined by trailblazing Salesforce customers like Pay.com.au and Law Squared to demonstrate how we can help businesses grow the impact of their sales, service and marketing by leveraging the power of CRM + AI + Data + Trust,” said Salesforce Area Vice President, Growth Business, Adrian Towsey.

The week will conclude with a press conference on Wednesday 29th May, from 9.30 am. Cisco is sponsoring the 'innovative tech product of the year' award. “Small businesses are the lifeforce of the Australian economy with so much opportunity to adopt the capabilities of leading-edge trends such as cybersecurity, AI, innovation and digitisation. Cisco is here to support small to medium enterprises to accelerate and capitalise on the opportunities that technology presents us," said Cisco’s Head of Small and Medium Enterprise business, Kelly Sabo.