Too many cars, too little parking space.
The number of vehicles hitting the roads is increasing at a rapid pace each year. No wonder, parking issues are becoming a nuisance.
Hunting for a parking space is a herculean task.
According to ITS America’s Market Analysis, nearly 30% of urban congestion is attributed to drivers desperately looking for a parking space.
Owing to this problem, nearly 1 million barrels of the world’s oil go to waste every single day!
Now, thanks to the introduction of a smart parking solution, the ever-growing disorder, and uncertainty associated with parking availability and payment show signs of a steady decline.
Let us learn more about the solutions offered by a high-tech parking system and how it stands to benefit business owners worldwide.
8 Reasons why your company’s management should consider smart parking software
The issue of parking availability bothers people from all walks of life.
Since people constitute business, it becomes imperative for companies to adopt sophisticated car parking management software. It offers customers a hassle-free parking experience and keeps the operational costs to a bare minimum.
You certainly don’t want your valuable customers to drive around aimlessly looking for empty parking spaces.
Smart parking solutions optimize usage of parking space, and boosts the efficiency of parking operations. This contributes to a smoother traffic flow and an improved bottom line for organizations.
Still wondering whether investing in smart parking solutions would be worthwhile?
Here’s a list of 8 reasons why this could be one of the best decisions you make for your company, employees and customers.
1. Zoom in on the areas of improvement
A Smart parking software collects real-time information about car parking. It offers significant insights into those “problematic” areas that you need to work on for an enhanced output.
This real-time data reveals the status of parking lots and makes provisions for proactive responses.
For instance, if a parking space has remained “unoccupied” for an extended period, there could be an underlying problem with that parking space.
A quick round of maintenance may fix the issue, thereby raising the overall performance.
Owing to round-the-clock monitoring of the parking space, some tricky issues such as parking overtime and double-parking can be eliminated altogether.
Human attendants are prone to making mistakes. An automated system most likely isn’t.
Chances of illegal or unauthorized parking diminishes to a great extent since parking space allotment doesn’t depend on anyone’s whims and fancies.
The entire process is conducted in a well-coordinated, systematic and transparent manner.
2. Happy parking experience and happier customers
Advanced sensor technologies constitute the heart of a smart parking software.
This is backed by other technological innovations including data analytics, wireless communications, cameras, smart parking meters and advanced algorithms. For an enhanced customer parking experience, the data collected and migrated to the Cloud is utilized.
Smart parking systems develop specialized services to achieve this goal. An effective combination of light indicators, digital signs and API-backed mobile apps helps the drives find the appropriate parking space.
Moreover, when customers are guided to easily find parking spots, it’s not just the customer who benefits from the process.
Companies can save their ventilation costs which would otherwise shoot up to exorbitant levels.
What else do you expect to happen if cars meander around the parking maze looking for that one elusive vacant spot, thereby increasing the carbon footprint in the atmosphere.
3. Make the most of facility resources
Thanks to the sensor data of a given facility, you can now recognize the specific areas and times when the traffic flow is at its lowest or highest.
Therefore, it allows you to come up with a well-defined plan to scale up the underutilized areas or expand the overused ones.
Parking spaces ought to be under constant monitoring to ensure dedicated parking spots such as those reserved for handicapped aren’t subject to misuse in any way.
Indicators show the way to the empty parking slots. They ensure that spaces which would otherwise end up as driveways are utilized as parking slots, thereby enhancing productivity.
Moreover, an efficient parking management software facilitates the best utilization of a company’s human resources.
There’s no need for an extra person to review tickets or coordinate the drivers during the parking process. This augurs well for the company’s overall profit margin.
4. Offers the comfort of integrated payments
A crucial component of smart parking management involves the implementation of an automated payment process.
Ticketed parking has streamlined the entire parking experience, especially for visitors and customers who can now enter and exit the parking space, having minimal interaction with the system.
If the parking software is truly advanced and intuitive, the payment would be calculated and charged from the user’s account without any effort on their part.
When the world is going the digital way, customers ought to have the option of making their payment online. This would be convenient for both the customers as well the parking managers.
An integrated mechanism of parking payment management makes for a hassle-free accounting process. Moreover, since the transaction information for each customer is carefully stored in the system, it becomes easier to offer loyalty programs based on their level of interaction and frequency of visits.
5. Say goodbye to angry drivers
It’s believed that Americans spend a chunk of their lives looking for parking spaces. This results in an estimated cost of $345 USD per driver wasted on time, effort, fuel and emissions.
The situation seems to get worse in cities where 33% of traffic issues stem from lack of parking space.
If the driver has to spend a considerable period of time (20 minutes approx) in pursuit of parking, then it’s quite natural to get flustered at the end of it all.
If a systematic parking system is not in place, it may discourage potential clients from turning up at your office premise. Remember, parking isn’t a trivial issue in business operations.
Parking often acts as the first thing they see and the last thing they remember about their experience with a business.
Smart parking solutions are aimed at creating a stress-free parking experience for drivers.
6. Reduces cost and increases revenue generation
Smart Parking management software empowers business owners to study driver trends and optimize existing spaces to accommodate more vehicles during peak hours.
This may turn out to be that unseen and unexpected revenue generation opportunity.
Parking management constitutes a big part of operational costs for many companies, especially those with a parking facility in its own premises.
Decreased maneuvering in the parking lot entails lesser wear and tear for vehicles and ventilation systems.
With smart parking solutions, operational efficiency increases by 20%.
Scenario is a little different if a company opts for a commercial parking lot for rent where companies have to depend on parking lot owners to take a call on smart parking.
7. Generates automated reports
Since advanced parking systems track real-time data of parking lots, you can gather the consolidated data in the form of a report.
The report is automatically produced by the intelligent parking management software on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis.
All you have to do is enter the time frame for which the report is to be created.
You don’t need to seek help from other softwares to make this report from a deluge of data. The smart parking software does the needful.
Once you get the report, it’s time to evaluate it to determine the peak time for vehicle flow, the slots which get filled fast, the efficient use of reserved parking spaces, the ventilation cost and so on.
If your parking system comes with a customer feedback feature, you can easily gauge the customer satisfaction level from that data.
8. Shrinkage in CO2 emissions levels
Businesses worldwide are waking up to the need for including sustainable practices in their operations.
It’s not just for a thoughtful initiative for the sake of the environment but also serves as a smart move for your business.
According to the 2015 Nielsen Report, companies that displayed commitment towards sustainability had a growth rate of 4% while those that remained in a non-committal mode grew by less than 1%.
The difference is too glaring to be ignored.
A smart parking software expedites the process of parking through smart sensor systems and other reliable guidelines.
This amounts to less fuel consumption for drivers and more importantly, reduced levels of co2 emissions.
There are instances when parking owners have successfully managed to bring down their co2 emissions by 50% just by making a conscious decision to install intelligent parking systems.
Conclusion
Given how chaotic our roads are and the amount of precious time lost in search of a parking space, smart parking software has emerged as necessities for smart organizations.
On a conscious level, customers may not fuss about the lack of parking space.
But deep within, they would feel relieved if the entire process is handled in a thoroughly professional, automated manner.
Small changes lead to bigger gains.
Therefore, go ahead and invest in smart parking solutions that would be just right for your business.
