Top 6 Parking Technology Tips
Top 6 Parking Technology Tips
Technology is ever changing, ever improving … and usually (but not always) makes our lives easier. How do you know which parking technology will improve your ability to generate and manage parking revenue? Here are the top 6 tips to consider when evaluating parking technology:
- Anywhere, anytime. With advances in Internet speeds, we are all accustomed to having information at our fingertips, including bank balances, account statements, so why not parking management? Your parking system should allow you to have 24/7 access to the system on-line.
- Credit Card Technology. Encrypted credit card readers secure your customers’ data by encrypting the credit card data at the card head. This means that there is no unencrypted credit card information anywhere in the parking system. The next level of credit card security above Encrypted card readers is EMV, which also offers chip reading and tap or NFC technology. This allows an End User to tap their mobile phone or wallet onto the reader to make a credit card payment. Depending on your clientele, some demographics such as University students expect such functionality.
- Alerts. If your parking system is low on paper or is nearing a full bill vault, can the parking technology let you know that the system requires human intervention? While some items may be automated, such as a controller recognizing that it has lost a connection and automatically rebooting, not all physical issues may be able to be automated. If your parking system doesn’t “yelp for help”, then you may be losing revenue or creating a dissatisfactory situation for your customers.
- Call for Assistance. If your customers do require assistance, do the pay stations allow them to reach a human? If yes, can you hear and speak to those customers. Can you open the gate for them? Does the call functionality allow you to program different dialing rules for different times of the day or days of the week?
- Video. While not everyone wants or needs video, it may be a nice to see what’s happening at the parking machine as well as in your parking lot generally. A Chinese proverb states: one picture is worth ten thousand words. If you have vehicle damage or theft at the parking area, video surveillance cameras help police in the investigation. Cameras may act as a crime deterrent. When people see surveillance in place, it discourages criminal activity.
- Integrations/API/XML. And last but not least don’t forget about how your parking system will communicate with other systems and software. The parking system becomes more influential and interesting when it is possible to share data between apps and web services. With increasing databases, cloud apps, and customers who demand information in real-time, there is more need to be able to exchange information.
Incorporate the best parking technology into your parking system to future proof and optimize the ROI for your investment. Purchase a parking system that can last for years by having the best of today’s parking technology as well as be upgraded to incorporate the technology of the future!
Parking BOXX accommodates the needs of small lots as well as large, complex parking systems. Parking BOXX has over 80 years of parking systems experience, service partners throughout North America, and parking sites in operation from Los Angeles, the Caribbean to Newfoundland. Parking BOXX parking systems reliably run sites with thousands of daily vehicles and millions in annual parking revenue.
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