Parking - April 2010 - 33

the changes could itself be a full-time job. In the not so distant past, parking offices were prolific late adopters; which until recently, has held them hostage. It was a perpetually difficult place to work and conduct business. As a result, the parking industry has suffered from notoriously high turnover and low customer satisfaction; all of which was out of any individual manager’s control. Facility managers now have to contend with and welcome control over their operations. The abundance of time spent face-to-face with customers apologizing for circumstances out of their control is dwindling, replaced with an emphasis on process improvement, efficiency, productivity, quality, and all the other business buzz words associated with existing managerial expectations in other industries. In business, the goal of implementing any new technology is to make work easier. Making jobs easier certainly has a few added benefits, such as increasing revenue, decreasing expenses and generally making people happier. I believe I am correct in assuming that most parking facility owners and operators, with some exceptions where parking serves another, primary agenda, try to maximize revenue. A second,

Until recently, the parking office mantra used to be we “can’t get no…s a t i s f a c t i o n.” Fortunately, the parking office of today is no longer bound to end up as another complaint department. Technology, like the infamous Rolling Stones song, challenges our views and promotes change. Management positions in parking were, and can still be extremely difficult, variant, and require extraordinarily thick skin. Today there is a move from reactive natured personalities towards proactive. A more personable approach is taken to client, inter-departmental, customer, and employee communication and relationship building, and believe it or not, technology is helping managers in these efforts. “Technology has changed the entire way we look and act in the parking world,” says Linda Kauffman, vice president of Industry Solutions for T2 Systems, Inc. “The advancements have allowed us to be increasingly customer focused and be more revenue focused. Both have changed job responsibilities for everyone in a parking operation.”

In business, the goal of implementing any new technology is to make work easier.
and equally important goal, is to minimize operating costs. These are no-brainers, and the addition of new technology tools or equipment addresses them directly. Lastly, technology attempts to improve our work and social lives. This focus has very real impact on the how and who of parking management.
www.npapark.org PARKING April 2010

Parking - April 2010

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