Transition to eParliament- Opportunities and Challenges

The entire world is switching to digitization, and every industry is transforming its manual operations to digital. However, in the race to adopt digitalization, the Parliaments haven’t remained in the last spots. According to the World eParliament Report 2022, over half of the Parliaments have held virtual plenaries, and more than three-quarters have held remote committee meetings.

However, many parliaments are looking forward to modernizing their core processes and optimizing their operational budgets by saving unnecessary expenses. This is where the eParliament software by SBL comes into the picture.

What is eParliament?

eParliament digitalizes legislative processes end-to-end to reduce process complexities, establish green governance, and improve stakeholder engagement. The components in eParliament or legislative tracking software, re-engineer the parliamentary process, bringing massive cost reductions along with environmental benefits.

Here are the components of an eParliament:

Digital document management feature where all the policies and important documents are stored safely and securely in a centralized repository. With the search/filter function, anyone can access the documents.
Video-conferencing system allows the legislative members to participate in the meetings and debates remotely.
The electronic voting system empowers the members to participate in the voting process digitally and cast their votes electronically.
Dashboards display real-time information, such as the order of business, amendments, and voting results, during parliamentary proceedings.
An online citizen engagement portal makes the parliamentary process transparent and empowers citizens to participate in parliamentary proceedings. Citizens can submit their comments, feedback, and petitions online.
Digitalized business processes refer to all aspects of business processes, including the internal core systems related to human resources and finance.
Social media integration allows the parliament to engage with the citizens and shareholders by sharing information about parliamentary proceedings, upcoming bills, and legislative events.

Benefits of Transitioning to eParliaments

Let’s look at the benefits eParliament software brings that form the basis of parliamentary digital transformation:

Digital transformation can increase efficiency, as the automation of mundane tasks streamlines and simplifies everything.

eParliament can be customized to offer more personalized experiences, fostering trust and improving satisfaction.
Digital transformation supports advanced data management, allowing legislative members to better understand trends. Statistics and real-time reports can facilitate data-backed decisions

eParliaments can improve collaboration, communication, and coordination with all the legislative members, leading to increased productivity.

Parliamentary digital transformation is an innovative approach to adopting eco-friendly and sustainable practices. For instance, the digital-first strategy reduces paper use, and working remotely reduces the need to travel, saving energy costs and reducing carbon footprint.

Challenges of Switching to eParliaments

However, it might not be easy to switch to a digital-first approach and take steps toward parliamentary digital transformation:

Sometimes, digital transformation can be challenging if it is seen as a rigid and fixed strategy. However, it is an ever-evolving and dynamic process. Digital transformation programs will push against the strategy, and that’s why the strategy should be flexible and responsive.
Digital transformation is a complex initiative that requires senior leadership with firm knowledge and a thorough understanding of parliamentary operations and ICT.
Adoption of legislative tracking software will require significant investment in technology, personnel, and training.
Parliamentary digital transformation requires members to shift from age-old practices. Therefore, there is a high chance that some parliamentary members will resist digital transformation.
Parliament should take a holistic approach to improving processes across the institution. So, ensure that the legacy processes from every department are transformed; otherwise, it will become difficult to integrate legacy and new systems, and it will affect the data flow between the devices.

Summing up,

Anything new is met by resistance, and there are problems when we adopt something new. That’s the same case with eParliament software. Still, instead of focusing on the hardships, it is best to look at the opportunities that digitalization has to offer to improve legislative operations and parliamentary processes.

SBL’s proprietary eParliament or legislative tracking software is designed to meet your country’s unique requirements. It can be customized according to your needs, has multi-lingual support, and integrates advanced technology, including AI and ML. Visit our website today and learn how our eParliament can boost your parliamentary operations.