Deloitte Presents: Your next customer may not be human!
Description
Your next customer may not be a person, but an AI agent acting on someone else’s behalf.
As commerce shifts from websites and apps towards conversational interfaces and delegated decisions, long‑established customer journeys, growth models, and product strategies are being tested.
In this provocative fireside chat, Brett Roberts and Duanne O’Brien explore how AI‑assisted buying through tools like ChatGPT and Claude, combined with autonomous agents, are fundamentally reshaping ecommerce and SaaS (software‑as‑a‑service).
This session focuses on the Techweek pillars of Future (emerging technologies and breakthrough innovation), Growth (technology growing New Zealand’s economy), and The Art of the Possible, with a clear eye on what these technology shifts mean for New Zealand organisations competing on a global stage.
In this session, we will explore:
Why commerce is leaving the web — and what replaces it
AI‑assisted buying vs autonomous agent decision‑making
What “customers” look like when agents choose for humans
Implications for SaaS, ecommerce, pricing, and distribution models
Hard questions leaders should be asking now, not later
Designed for business and technology leaders, this is a practical, forward‑looking discussion on how to design, position, and scale products and services in a world where AI agents increasingly influence buying decisions.
Speakers
Brett Roberts
Managing Director – Business IQ | Advisory Board Member – Mission Read Brett Roberts is a New Zealand–based strategy, AI, and technology advisor and sought‑after keynote speaker. A former Microsoft New Zealand senior executive and digital agency CEO, Brett brings deep experience across enterprise, public sector, and mid‑market organisations. He works with founders, executive teams, and boards to help them make clear, commercially grounded decisions about AI, technology investment, and digital transformation. Known for his plain‑English style, Brett specialises in translating complex technology change into practical strategy focused on customer value, competitive advantage, and sustainable growth - cutting through hype to what genuinely matters for business leaders.
Duanne O’Brien
Independent Board & Technology Advisor | Founder/Author – Present Thread Duanne O’Brien is a highly experienced New Zealand technology executive and scale‑up CTO with more than 25 years’ experience leading product, engineering, and platform teams in globally scaling SaaS and technology businesses. Most recently, Duanne served as Chief Technology Officer at EROAD, following senior technology leadership roles at Serko, Plexure, Loyalty New Zealand, and other leading Kiwi firms. He specialises in modernising large‑scale platforms, cloud and product transformation, and building engineering organisations that sustain growth at scale. A regular speaker and industry contributor, Duanne brings a pragmatic, operator‑led perspective on technology leadership, AI, and scaling digital platforms.
Peter Haigh
Associate Director, Tech & Transformation - Deloitte NZ Peter Haigh is an Associate Director at Deloitte New Zealand, specialising in technology strategy, AI adoption, and helping organisations translate emerging technologies into secure, practical outcomes. Peter joined Deloitte from Microsoft where he was a Technology Strategist and Customer Success Leader for 15 years.
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