Our meet the team blog series highlights the amazing people behind Xalient. This week we met with one of our Programme Managers, Martin Burke, to learn a little more about him and his role at Xalient.
To kick things off, could you tell us about your career background?
I have over 25 years of experience working in technology and professional services and have had the great privilege to work for some large managed providers in the public and private sectors.
My early career started as a Technical Consultant, where I was an SQL DBA and Microsoft Certified Engineer. I then moved into Networking Solutions and, over time, to Project Management – where I honed my skills in Customer Delivery.
I have since managed various projects, programmes, and professional service teams, that have enabled me to develop my skills and knowledge, I pride myself on my ability to work with any customer to achieve the best possible outcomes.
What is it that attracted you to Xalient?
I heard of Xalient in its earlier days through close colleagues as a young, ambitious, forward-thinking organisation willing to take risks to win in the market against the larger MSPs, Putting Xalient on my radar for a possible future career move, and luckily that opportunity came up this year – which I jumped at the chance!
What’s the first thing you do when you start your working day?
I’m very privileged to work from home, allowing me to have a good work/life balance most of the time. Usually, I start my day with a pot of coffee, a quick walk with the dog, check my emails, and then see my daughter off to school. I then sit down at my home office, ready to start the day.
I think it’s important to maintain some boundaries when working from home, so I ensure I have my dedicated work area, which helps me switch off at the end of the day.
And what does the average day look like for you?
As a Programme Manager, much of my time is spent managing customer expectations. It takes the form of many communication channels to continuously try and maintain good communication with our internal teams and customer stakeholders, intending to finish the day having made steps forward in delivering our objectives and ensuring that everybody is informed and working on the same priorities.
How would your colleagues describe you?
I would think a lot of people would describe me as a self-starter, strong, independent, who knows what is required to get decisions made quickly. I hope my colleagues appreciate my role as the conduit to our customers, trying to get the best outcomes at all times to deliver on time and budget for their desired quality outcomes.
What do you like most about your job?
I am proud to be part of the Xalient team. Xalient does an excellent job of delivering quality outcomes, and I enjoy our ability to support our customers through change. I feel I have the right level of autonomy to get the job done.
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I spend most evenings on our sofa or out at the cinema watching the latest horror movie with my wife, Helen. On weekends I enjoy getting out and spending time with my family doing various sports, including scuba diving, canoeing, mountain biking and archery.
In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
Over the past 12 months, I realised happiness and a good work-life balance is key. It’s important to enjoy doing the job you do and doing it well and waking up on a Monday morning raring to go! Since joining Xalient 5 months ago, I have had a real passion for working again.
Are there any products, gadgets or apps you can’t live without?
I think I’ve been privileged to have lived in the technology era and seen the birth of the Internet and mobile phones. It’s incredible to see where we are now with everything you need on a smartphone or on a watch! I’ve always enjoyed being at the forefront of gadgets and tech. However, I’d have to say I think I could live without social media. Talking to people is an art we are losing as time goes on. That said, I don’t think I could live without my sporting equipment either. Not being able to get out for a mountain bike ride or go canoeing would be challenging for me.
Who/what inspires you (work, personal or historical)?
Entrepreneurs fascinate me by being bold and brave enough to risk and gamble their own money on their ideas and sometimes win and sometimes lose, but learn from it and do it again. I can think of a number of these people that most of us would probably quote as inspiring Gates, Branson, Musk etc. and our very own CEO, Sherry Vaswani.
What’s a fun fact about you many people might not know?
I frown a lot, not because I am cross but thinking!
Tell us something people might not know about you.
I’m dyslexic, and whilst I find it very frustrating sometimes, it’s also been a bit of a superpower.
In my earlier career, I hid it a lot from people, but now I have a different perspective, as it gives me a different perspective that adds colour to the team.
