As partners in online voting for nearly five years, Assembly Voting and SD Worx have forged a deep and mutually beneficial relationship in tandem with making online voting a reality for numerous voters across Belgium. In this piece, we take a closer look at the origins, progression, and future of this partnership.
The Need for a Partner, Not Just a Vendor
As Belgium’s leading human resources (HR) management and payroll provision company, SD Worx has a hard-to-match expertise when it comes to the responsible handling of personal data. With many of their customers participating in the quadrennial Belgian Social Elections for electing employee representatives, the company saw value in integrating its existing data and software into online voting systems for use during said elections. The model proved to fit the needs of all the elections’ stakeholders like a glove: SD Worx would furnish voter data to create voter rolls and supply their previously-used software to Assembly Voting, who would then integrate them into a usable online voting system which SD Worx could provide to its clients.
When the time came to find a new provider of online voting systems prior to the 2020 Social Elections, SD Worx, though satisfied with the vendors it had worked with prior, was looking for more autonomy in helping its customers run elections. Already possessing data needed for voter lists and maintaining it in line with GDPR regulations, it became cumbersome to rely on the voting system vendor exclusively to prepare the voting system. It therefore made the most sense for the company to find a vendor which would allow SD Worx to prepare the election software itself while receiving regular support from the vendor.
“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”
In 2019, SD Worx and Assembly Voting officially announced their partnership, enabling SD Worx to integrate their existing election software and voter rolls into Assembly Voting’s robust online voting solutions to make voting in the Social Elections easier and more secure than ever. Stated SD Worx at the time, “Denmark is a global front-runner in local democracy and leveraging digitalization to strengthen active citizenship” and the cooperation of the two companies was pursued not only to make elections more secure, but also to make voting easier and boost turnout. Today, 90% of voters at one of SD Worx’s clients vote electronically using the solution and the user-friendliness of the solution is cited as something which sets it apart.
Having many prominent customers interested in protecting their brand names, security was no small concern for SD Worx when searching for a solution provider. Assembly Voting, as a company at the forefront of making secure and transparent online voting available for as many as possible, was a logical choice for a partner to help SD Worx provide trustworthy systems to its clients. The integrated solution, utilizing digital IDs to verify voters and employing cryptographic technologies to resist outside tampering, stands as a testament to the values of not only Assembly Voting, but also the numerous client organizations who will settle for nothing less than a system which, while flexible, protects the integrity of any democratic election.
A Dream Team
No relationship blooms without consistent communication, and the partnership between SD Worx and Assembly Voting exemplifies this. As part of ensuring that SD Worx is always adequately prepared to provide the election solution to its customers, the Assembly Voting tech team meets with the company weekly to discuss any new developments in the system and resolve issues as they arise. Using the company’s own API, SD Worx successfully supplied an integrated online voting solution to its clients in 2020, an important means of allowing voters to cast ballots in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company, always pragmatic and upfront about meeting the needs of its customers, is poised to once again furnish the integrated solutions for its customers in this year’s Social Elections.
Through partnering with SD Worx, Assembly Voting has also reaped the benefits by being able to establish its product firmly in the Belgian market in a breakthrough which would not have been possible without inter-company cooperation. Revenue notwithstanding, SD Worx’s extensive knowledge of local languages and legal requirements makes providing secure, accessible solutions to the Belgian customers far easier than it would have been should Assembly Voting have attempted to enter the market alone. As a result, over 700 Belgian clients are expected to use the solution in this year’s Social Elections. It is Assembly Voting’s hope that the companies’ work together to strengthen organizational democracy can continue long into the future.
Is your organization looking to integrate its existing election technology with a top-grade online voting solution to provide to clients? Or are you just curious about how partnerships with Assembly Voting work in practice? Take a look at our partner page to download our Partner Program brochure or contact us to learn all about what we offer.
Fast Facts
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Year partnership began: 2019
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Product of partnership: Integrated online voting solution which uses Assembly Voting’s technologies together with SD Worx’s HR system to serve clients’ election needs
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Organizations served: Over 700
