One of the big questions the parking industry are facing now is: how can we meaningfully communicate, collaborate, and connect in a hybrid environment? As companies adapt to new ways of working, the technology they use has become the dominant feature of the customer experience — a place where many companies are falling short. Once parking companies understand opportunities to improve digital experiences, it’s key they also take action toward closing any gaps, and let customers know that there is still a human side. Finally, it’s critical for companies to keep pace by giving customers a forum to provide feedback, continually understanding how they are engaging with the tools offered to them and where to make improvements.”
Our challenge in Africa is to bridge the gap between customers that are not always equipped to use technology and to continually introduce initiatives to make their parking experience easier and time efficient. Having a hybrid parking system – helps us to navigate between customers with credit cards who can easily use tap and go facilities and customers with cash only that are still able to use the pay on foot systems. Having both in parking facilities creates an easy to use model, and has an added benefit of creating a time efficient systems that has minimal queuing.
Customer experience encompasses every aspect of a company’s offering—the quality of customer care, service features, ease of use and reliability is the four areas we focus on.
Consumers have a greater number of choices today than ever before, more complex choices, and more channels through which to pursue them. In such an environment, simple, integrated solutions to problems—not fragmented, burdensome ones—will win the allegiance of the time-pressed consumer. When surveyed customers in Shopping Malls, one of the most important things that every customer told us were that easy access, safe parking was important to them in choosing which mall to do their shopping at. In measuring customer satisfaction it also became evident that paying for a parking space was less important than making sure the space is safe and gives them easy access with an efficient way of paying and driving in and out.
The secret to a good customer experience is the multiplicity of features on offer – designed with the overarching purpose of making the time spent reaching your parking, paying for it and driving out is minimal and uncomplicated.
Some of the practical features we incorporate to achieve this are:
- Tap n Go facilities
- Scan to pay options
- QR Codes access
- LPR cameras
- Online bookings
- VIP parking
- Long range readers
- Cell phone entry
- Fingerprint entry
- Numberplate access
Author: Nico Koupis (Director: SA-iPark PTY LTD)
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