Modern landlords often find it challenging trying to understand residential and retail parking patterns, and Parket provides a solution by using data insights. This allows landlords to comprehensively track vehicle movements across different sites and unlock new ways to generate revenue. Joshua Raphael, Parket’s founder and CTO explains.
WORDS: SUPPLIED :: PHOTOS: PIXABAY
Parking is something that occurs in the real, physical world. Every one of us who drives a car understands the annoyance and frustration that can accompany a visit to a parkade. After all, physical vehicles are traversing physical spaces and coming to rest in parking bays that are available, before needing to pay for said parking through a ticket-based system that often causes more headaches than necessary – such as playing treasure hunt to find your paper parking ticket!
This flow and volume of vehicles varies depending on peak times and the type of precinct. To optimise modern parking, landlords need to make strategic, real-time decisions. It stands to reason that in order to reach the level of real-time parking management modern landlords require, it very much becomes a case of: Out with the paper, in with the data.
Parket makes it a priority to demonstrate the power of data insights and monetisation through developing solutions that allow landlords to undertake comprehensive tracking of vehicle movements across different precinct types.
Ever wonder who the mystery parkers are using your bays? From former staff who still have access tags to contractors exploiting free parking while servicing tenants, our system gives landlords the visibility to take back control.
The point is to provide landlords with a detailed understanding of residential and retail parking patterns, tenant parking behaviours and a nuanced understanding of retail parking dynamics. In order to build a solution that brings the power of data-driven decisions to landlords, we appreciate that they need the ability to map precise vehicle entry and exit times, alongside a granular analysis of parking space utilisation.
How does this look in the real world? In one of the precincts we manage, deep office parking usage analysis revealed that one tenant consistently used 100% of their allocated parking, while an adjacent tenant only utilised 70% of their allocation. Armed with this data, complete with behaviour patterns, we enabled strategic, data-driven space reallocation. This ability demonstrated to Parket, and of course to the landlord, the potential that data has to optimise commercial real estate assets. None of this would have been possible by tracking line items on a spreadsheet days or weeks in arrears.
The potential is limited only by imagination. Imagine for a second the transformative power of dynamically reallocating and directing traffic for optimal conference parking management. In this scenario the organiser can validate parking for event attendees and track participant volumes in real time. The same can be said for hospitality integration where the organisers could manage guest parking validation while understanding visitor patterns as they occur, creating seamless parking experiences. In the age of data, there really is no reason corporate event parking should be a pain for both the organisers and the delegates.
Technological transformation
The big leap forward, and which echoes other industries undergoing digital transformation, is the elimination of traditional reconciliation methods. Parket’s design is built on the elimination of manual Excel spreadsheet tracking and paper-based ticket management. In addition to this, there is an eradication of typical time-consuming invoicing processes. This is done through introducing real-time digital transaction processing which enables instant financial reconciliation and transparent, immediate data transfer.
Consider this example: A company wallet, where transactions happen in real time with tenants, provides the visibility for a full breakdown on who parked, when, and for how long. Here, there are no more parking recons, removing the headache from tenant invoicing processes. Because it is instant, where funds can be loaded and allocated as the parking is used, stakeholders don’t need to be tied into fixed monthly parking rentals.
As with all technology, this is not done for technology’s own sake but to unlock strategic benefits for landlords. First, is a massive reduction in administrative overheads. There is no “work after the work”, so to speak, because financial tracking happens in real time. This, in turn, enables data-driven parking space management decisions, with immense potential for cross-sector marketing insights precisely because of a landlord’s ability to understand, accurately, precise customer behaviour.
Comprehensive parking ecosystem
Perhaps the biggest paradigm shift is seeing modern parking management as more than just a technological solution. Rather, Parket firmly believes in delivering a comprehensive parking ecosystem that enables decision-making through unprecedented data granularity. Put another way, parking shifts from a cost centre to a strategic business intelligence tool.
The potential for landlords to radically reimagine their parking ecosystems has never been more exciting, but it is absolutely paramount that they work with reputable platforms that design solutions around unique contexts. No two parkades are the same. Beyond this, data compliance and privacy needs to be front and centre of all efforts to improve parking management. For example, a license plate, which is visible anywhere on the roads to any pair of eyes of cameras, is a public identifier, making number-plate recognition a useful tool in smart parking solutions. However, landlords need to be congnisant of best practice regarding transparent data management and personal, identifiable information. Compliance needs to be built into solutions from the start. It cannot play catch-up after the fact.
When approached properly, integrating a smart parking management solution radically reduces administrative complexity for landlords, while enabling data-driven spatial intelligence. This, in turn, holds exciting potential for new, innovative revenue streams. Discard the tickets because we’ve well and truly entered the era of: Out with the paper, in with the data.
