Image by Florian Pircher from Pixabay
I understood that the business behind providing parking spaces to people is a big business. What I didn’t realize is just how important having a secure parking management system is to making money off of those spaces. It wouldn’t be long before I learned this lesson, and I feel like it is important to share with the world the things that I learned about the value of parking management systems and why they truly matter to the success or failure of any given enterprise.
Keeping Tabs on Parking
When I first began exploring the topic of parking management, I didn’t necessarily understand why it was so vital for companies to always have a constant watch on how many parking spots they had available at any given time. That is to say that I couldn’t piece together why a company would care about the precise number of spots it had in its parking lot at any given time. Sure, I could see why a general sense of where things were trending with the number of spaces might matter, but I wondered why someone would need to know the exact number.
What I found out was that by keeping an eye on the total number of spots available and the number that were occupied already, a business could maximize both its traffic flow and the amount that it collects on parking.
What are the Components of a Parking Management System?
As I dug deeper into the research, I discovered that there are a lot more layers to these systems than I ever could have realized before. It is necessary to look at each piece in its context.
Payment Method
Everyone wants to get paid, and I found that this is the first thing that most parking management systems take into account. You can’t get very far down the road with a parking management system until you consider how the owner of the system will receive their profits. Thus, I found that the ability to accept various payment methods mattered more to parking lot owners than almost any other element of the process.
One of the things that I discovered about setting up payment methods for parking systems is that it is often necessary to divide the way that staff pays for their parking compared to customers. Many businesses don’t charge their staff for parking at all, or they may charge them a reduced fee to pay. Thus, the company may need multiple ways to accept payments.
Parking Enforcement Options
I found that several parking enforcement options are included in the typical parking management system. This is because there are people who might try to get away with not paying their parking fees, or they might take other actions that jeopardize the ability of the parking lot owner to receive the funds that they are duly owed.
I think that most people are familiar with enforcement options such as issuing tickets. That is certainly one option that is included in many parking management systems. However, that is not the only way that one can use a parking management system. There are other ways to get to the root of solving some of these problems as well.
Most importantly, I found that parking enforcement improves traffic flow and allows for the parking lot to keep things moving along as it is designed to do.
Access Controls
It is necessary to have access controls as part of a parking management system. What I saw was that only allowing those who had the proper authorization to get into a parking space meant that they wouldn’t necessarily be able to get away with not paying their parking fees when they were supposed to.
Every parking management system that I saw in action had access controls that made it easier for the parking lot owner to control who came in and out of their parking area. It was the best and only way that these individuals could create a system that would work perfectly for them.
Reporting
The last piece of parking software management systems that I saw and that I was impressed with was the ability of these systems to report back to the owner about the conditions within the parking lot. These systems provided an incredible level of detail about fees collected, spaces occupied, how long those spaces were occupied, tickets issued, and virtually anything else that might be relevant to the parking lot owner. It was a delight to see all of this in action, and I couldn’t explain it, but it made me feel good to know that I was able to see all of this information in one centralized area.
Parking Management Systems are a Must
I have to say that there is no getting around the fact that parking management systems are a must when it comes to the way that parking works in the modern world. Keeping track of all of that information and ensuring that everyone is paid up how they need to be is the best way to put owners in the driver’s seat. I was very impressed by what I saw.
