ParkEngage recently participated in the 2021 IPMI Conference & Expo in Tampa. It was great to see so many familiar faces from throughout the industry, and meet new friends and colleagues, after over two years. The value and benefits of connecting with people in person, and the opportunity to have the important discussions, is something that is best done in person.
A lot has happened in our industry since we last met together as a whole. We were thrilled to have great discussions with industry leaders about the changing role of technology in the industry, the opportunities to incorporate new initiatives to enhance customer service, and how to create a more efficient and safe work environment for parking staff.
Parking technology continues to transform, and the COVID-19 crisis accelerated the advancement of many technologies. Decision-makers spoke of the need to incorporate touchless parking solutions to not only create a more seamless and convenient experience for their patrons, but also to enhance user safety and limit interactions with parking staff.
For instance, both municipal and university operations are integrating touchless parking solutions to a greater extent both due to COVID sensitivities, but also because mobility has become a basic requirement for this generation. Paper-based tickets or permits or hangtags are very undesirable, and slow down the process significantly.
Another issue many organizations are facing is the labor shortage. During COVID, many people retired from the labor force, thus leading to a huge shortage of available labor in the market and making it extremely difficult to staff up operations. While the operators, cities, and universities are struggling to hire people, they are prioritizing technology projects to reduce dependency on labor in the garage, looking at deploying touchless and other automation technologies like virtual permits and aggregator management that reduces need for labor while increasing customer satisfaction and self-service.
Finally, many operators spoke to the challenge of reduced budgets and the goal of limiting significant upfront investments into technologies like PARCS, ticket machines, cameras, onsite servers, and mobile enforcement vehicles equipped with expensive LPR systems. Many organizations are looking for solutions where their upfront investment is low, or easily passed on to the customer.
Touchless parking technologies range from contactless solutions at entry and exit, to virtual permits and online reservations. The goal is to create the most seamless parking experience possible, allowing the user to complete their entire parking journey through their mobile device. However, these solutions also help to significantly streamline the parking operation for organizations and their staff, reducing overhead, improving customer service, and increasing revenues.
ParkEngage looks forward to continuing to be a leader in the development and integration of touchless parking solutions across the parking and mobility industry. If you stopped by our booth last week, thank you for coming to check us out! If we missed you, please take a moment to check out our solutions and learn more about how we can help enhance your operation. Thank you to IPMI for putting on such a great show! We’re looking forward to seeing everyone again next summer for the 2022 conference in New Orleans!
