Tom Burns, Senior Sales Executive

What is your role at Modern Democracy? 

I work as part of the Modern Democracy business development team working across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Currently, we are experiencing a significant increase in demand with a growing number of local authorities seeking to embrace digital transformation in the polling station, especially after seeing the successful implementation of Modern Polling at the UK General Election.

What does the role entail? 

My role involves working with potential new customers as they recognise the incredible impact that Modern Democracy’s technology can have in streamlining their election day processes.

I have a particular focus on the north of England and the island of Ireland as we expand into new locations. We focus on strategy, planning and market mapping so that we can duplicate the great success we already have in other parts of the UK.

A lot of that is about building relationships which is incredibly important to us, whether that’s meeting with statutory bodies like electoral commissions to showcase the impact of Modern Polling or working with our partners such as our cloud supplier AWS to increase our market presence. We’re looking forward to joining them (and 1,500 others) at the AWS Cloud Day in Dublin on 10th October.

What is your favourite part of the working day? 

My favourite part of the working day has to be reuniting with our brand-new coffee machine every morning which, as a self-proclaimed ‘coffee snob’, makes me very happy. I love having a coffee catch-up with colleagues and building those strong relationships which makes coming to work at Modern Democracy even better.

Having worked entirely remotely in a previous role, I love the hybrid style of working here and being in the team environment of the office. Working with the top professionals in the elections field and soaking up their knowledge is a real privilege.

What do you enjoy most about your role?  

I love being able to travel to meet with potential customers, having been to England already on numerous occasions for road shows. The balance of being in the office and getting out and about, meeting new people, keeps me motivated – as well as seeing the look on their faces when they realise what Modern Polling can do for them, literally eliminating the stress of running elections.

How would you describe the impact of your job? 

The main impact would have to be helping local authorities to streamline the election process for both the electorate and for themselves directly. It is very noticeable that electronic pollbooks have moved from being seen as a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must have’. Having been trail blazers in the industry for the last 10 years, the recent surge of interest is an endorsement for how Modern Democracy and ePoll books are the way forward, fast becoming the de-facto standard for running polling stations.