Mark Bouris wants the NSW government’s replacement for the defunct Business Connect program to be built around artificial intelligence, arguing a digital-first version is the only way to keep the program’s reach relevant to small businesses. Speaking at the SmartCompany Growth Summit in June, the entrepreneur said the successor scheme should keep Business Connect’s original purpose while modernising how it is delivered.
The call comes nine months after Business Connect was closed for good on 30 September 2025, and weeks after the NSW government allocated $37 million in the state budget to a new small business advisory program. Small Business Minister Janelle Saffin has confirmed the replacement will run through the Service NSW Business Bureau but stopped short of endorsing an AI-based model. She said the government is “still looking at Mr Bouris’ review in detail.”
Bouris Calls for an AI-Based Successor
Bouris laid out his vision at the summit, framing the proposed successor as a continuation of the existing program. He told the audience the program should keep its existing remit while shifting its delivery online.
“We need to see the same thing, Business Connect, but it now needs to be digital and AI-based,” he said at the Growth Summit in June.
Bouris said any modern replacement should serve as a single entry point for the state’s small business support, replacing the patchwork of grants, advisory services and assistance programs business owners currently have to find their way through on their own. He framed the model as human advisers supported by AI rather than human advisers replaced by it. He also pushed for a single central portal where every NSW business owner can find grants, advice and support. The full coverage of his Business Connect remarks lays out each of these priorities in detail.
The government now needs to modernise itself and get on board and start to provide something… where every single business owner in New South Wales can go to find out where all the places are that they’re going to get either a grant or assistance or advice.
Bouris made the remarks after completing a review for the NSW government into small business support. He told the summit audience he had recently completed the review, though the government’s full response to its findings is still pending. The full terms of the review have not been made public.
How Business Connect Came Undone
The original Business Connect program provided up to eight hours of free specialist advice to small businesses through a network of independent advisers. The program closed on 30 September 2025 after the Minns government did not renew its funding in the 2025 state budget.
The closure prompted sustained criticism from industry groups, service providers, the NSW Opposition and the Greens before the Minns government confirmed the program would return in a revised form. Service NSW’s website now lists the Bureau as the front door for general business advisory services, covering business setup, permits, licensing and government program access. The shift effectively moves the entry point for small business advice inside Service NSW.
The new advisory program is funded through the NSW budget, with the funding commitment arriving shortly after Bouris handed over his review to the government. The two steps together put the government under pressure to deliver a successor program that does more than restore the previous scheme’s structure.
The funding commitment, alongside Bouris’s review, gives the government two of the three pieces needed to launch the replacement. The third, a detailed operating model, is what Saffin’s office is still finalising before any public rollout. Until that lands, the program’s exact shape, and the role of AI in it, remains an open question.
- Eight hours of free specialist advice per business under the original program
- 30 September 2025 closure date for Business Connect
- One review completed by Mark Bouris for the NSW government
- One new advisory program funded in the NSW budget
What the Replacement Program Could Look Like
Bouris’s stated priorities for the replacement include a digital, AI-based delivery model layered on top of the original program’s purpose. He also wants a single central portal where business owners can find grants, advice and support. Third, he wants coverage that extends beyond high-growth tech firms to every small business in NSW. Taken together, those priorities would change both the front door and the back office of small business advisory work in the state.
He argued the existing network of specialist advisers should stay in place, but be supplemented by a digital layer that can triage routine questions automatically before routing more complex cases to a human adviser. The model, in his telling, keeps human advisers in place and uses AI to support their work. Bouris was explicit that this is not a plan to replace human advisers with AI.
The “single front door” idea is the second pillar of his pitch, and the one most likely to require coordination across the multiple agencies that currently handle grants, procurement advice and licensing support. Bouris argued NSW business owners should not have to figure out which agency owns which program before they can apply for help.
The Government’s Answer So Far
Small Business Minister Janelle Saffin has confirmed the replacement program “will be a specialist advisory service delivered through the Service NSW Business Bureau” but has not committed to the AI-based design Bouris proposed. She has also stopped short of saying when the new advisory service will launch. Her office is still working through Bouris’s review.
“We are still looking at Mr Bouris’ review in detail and are looking forward to sharing details of the new advisory service in the coming weeks,” Saffin told SmartCompany. The minister left the design choices, including whether AI tools sit on top of the existing Service NSW offering, entirely open.
The Service NSW Business Bureau already offers business setup support, licence and permit applications, access to government programs, government procurement pathways, local and overseas expansion advice, and disaster recovery support, the Service NSW page on Business Connect’s closure shows. Whether AI tools will sit on top of those services is the part of the design the government has yet to decide. Bouris’s recommendation, if adopted, would make the Bureau the digital layer over the existing human adviser network. The funding is in place; the design choice is not.
What Changes From the Old Program
The original Business Connect and its proposed replacement differ on at least four measurable points, from who delivers the service to how it is funded. The differences span delivery channel, free advice quota, funding, and current status.
| Attribute | Original Business Connect | Proposed Replacement |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery channel | Network of independent specialist advisers | Service NSW Business Bureau |
| Free advice per business | Up to eight hours | Not yet specified |
| Funding | Not renewed in the 2025 state budget | $37 million in the NSW budget |
| Status | Closed on 30 September 2025 | To be launched |
The most contested part of the design is the digital layer Bouris is pushing for. Saffin’s confirmation that the replacement “will be a specialist advisory service delivered through the Service NSW Business Bureau” leaves the role of AI inside that service undefined. Bouris has called for AI to handle the front door, with human advisers retained for cases AI cannot resolve.
A Pitch to Celebrate Every Small Business
Beyond the program’s design, Bouris used the summit to argue Australian governments need to do more to celebrate small businesses. Recognition, he said, is the missing ingredient in how Australia talks about its small business sector, a comment pitched at federal and state governments alike.
“The government should be celebrating every small business in Australia,” he said. He did not single out the Minns government, instead framing the argument as a national one. The remarks landed at the same summit where he outlined his AI-based vision for the replacement program.
He also set out a competitive pitch for NSW. “I want New South Wales to be the place where everybody wants to set up a new small business,” he said. Recognition, he argued, should extend beyond high-growth tech to every kind of small business. “We should be celebrating everything from fish and chip shops to boot makers to high-end tech people,” he said, adding that the state should “make it a place of pride.”
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Business Connect?
Business Connect was a NSW small business advisory program that gave operators access to independent specialist advisers. The program offered up to eight hours of free advice per business before it was closed in 2025.
When did Business Connect close?
The program was discontinued on 30 September 2025 after the Minns government did not renew its funding in the 2025 state budget. The closure drew sustained criticism from industry groups, service providers, the NSW Opposition and the Greens. It took months of criticism before the Minns government confirmed the program would return in a revised form.
How much funding has the NSW government committed to the replacement?
The NSW budget committed $37 million to a new small business advisory program to succeed Business Connect. Operational details of the replacement are expected in the coming weeks.
What did Mark Bouris recommend for the new program?
Bouris called for a digital, AI-based replacement that retains the original program’s purpose and serves as a central portal where business owners can find grants, advice and support. He also pushed for a model where human advisers are supported by AI rather than replaced by it. He outlined his vision at the Growth Summit in June, with the full remarks published after the event.
Has the government agreed to an AI-based replacement?
Small Business Minister Janelle Saffin has confirmed the replacement will run through the Service NSW Business Bureau but has not committed to an AI-based design. She said the government is still reviewing Bouris’s findings, with details of the new advisory service expected in the coming weeks.
