Parliamentary Digital Service CIO Tracey Jessup believes machine learning and the Internet of Things are two of the technologies that could help the way the Houses of Parliament operates during the next phase of its technology transformation.

The CIO and Managing Director was discussing initiatives her Parliamentary Digital Service Team had delivered – including enabling the Commons and Lords to debate and vote remotely, and delivering the platforms for Select Committees to continue to scrutinise government in response to Coronavirus restrictions – during CBR and NS Tech‘s CIO Town Hall Live forum.

View CIO Town Hall Live sessions on-demand

Speaking with NS Media Group Technology Editor Edward Qualtrough, Jessup also shared some of the foundational steps that had been made in Parliament’s first five-year digital strategy regarding moving to the cloud and introducing new ways of working – adding that demand had been created for the next phase of Parliament’s technology journey.

Speculating about the disruptive emerging technologies she thinks could have a big impact on the organisation, Jessup noted Parliament’s rich data heritage and its upcoming Restoration and Renewal Programme as areas where digital technology provided significant opportunity.

“I think machine learning has real potential to make an impact in Parliament,” Jessup said. “If you consider the number of people and places in which we are recording things – we’re recording what people are saying or recording their decisions.

“The potential impact of an intelligent machine learning tool, and the way that could disrupt and potentially release some of that resource to do high value work. I think that’s interesting and quite exciting, and it’s something my colleagues who are CIOs in Parliaments across the world are certainly thinking about.

“More broadly, there’s huge potential in terms of the Internet of Things. Buildings these days are digital.”

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Jessup, the CIO since September 2017, described the coming together of construction and digital colleagues as “a once in a generation opportunity to not only restore but enhance the facilities of the Palace”.

You can watch Parliamentary Digital Service CIO Tracey Jessup’s full session from the CIO Town Hall Live on demand, where she discusses the next phase of CIOs reaping value from cloud computing, the process of getting Lords and MPs debating and voting online, the challenges of recruitment and retention, and the next phase of Parliament’s digital transformation.

Watch Parliamentary Digital Service CIO Tracey Jessup’s CIO Town Hall Live session