For any business or organization, data is critical. It helps provide an understanding of the patterns and behaviors necessary to make essential day to day decisions, and utilize that information to best serve customers, maximize revenues, and identify and implement strategies to streamline operations.

One of many opportunities to effectively utilize this information is with dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing allows organizations to appropriately customize pricing structures based on various times, behaviors, events, and more.

Parking is no exception. As it relates to parking, it can be hard to know (especially during these crazy times) what parking supply and demand will be and where. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could capture data in real time that would automatically and accurately anticipate your parking supply and demand and enable you to set prices to maximize revenues?

Welcome to dynamic pricing with ParkEngage. Our Inventory Management System gives you the power to obtain real time parking supply and demand data, and as a result manipulate your pricing structures to the most appropriate levels. This service allows you to customize your parking pricing based on “rules” such as inventory, time of day, season, and more, creating a more comprehensive operation and helping to increase revenues. Learn more about our Inventory Management System and contact us for a free trial.

We’ve all heard about “the cloud”. Whether it’s in relation to our personal electronics like our mobile phones and computers, or in the technologies we use in our professional lives as parking and transportation professionals, the past ten years or so have seemingly revolved around how to manage the information and data we store in the cloud.

The actual definition of the cloud can be ambiguous, but ultimately it describes the global network of servers where our information lives. It’s not actually physical, but rather an electronic network connected worldwide storing and managing data, running applications, and delivering content to all of our devices.

So what are the benefits of using the cloud as a parking professional? First, the cloud is “pay as you go”. You can gradually add to the size of your network as you need rather than paying for one local system. You can also continue to grow the cloud as you go rather than having to replace a “one size” on-site system. Finally, the beauty of the cloud is that you can connect to it from anywhere (depending on internet connection and security policies). This allows you to access your valuable data from anywhere at any time, while also allowing your patrons and customers to do the same when needed.

Cloud-based technology has come a long way since its inception. Today, issues such as network connection and security have dramatically improved in quality and provide much greater reliability than when the cloud was initially realized. Many organizations are moving to the cloud to manage their parking data to improve operational efficiencies, provide more reliable access for their customers, and better manage their facilities. As our industry (and every other walk of life) continue to be more mobile and tech-dependent, it’s important to understand the value of the cloud, as well as the potential disadvantages, in order to choose the solution that works best for your organization and plan accordingly.