The Opportunity and Risk in Parking

The following article by Peter Sandin, Vice President of Sales in North America. recently appeared in Parking Today magazine.

Scorecard for communications - Parking

The intersection of opportunity and risk defines the value in any business. Parking is no different. With our network of system integrators and OEMs, Zenitel has been focused on helping parking operators and facility owners create value by evaluating the risk profile of their business. This includes regulatory and operational costs and providing innovative approaches to serving their customers. It also includes optimizing the parking experience.

According to industry and government sources, 10-20% of property crimes and assaults occur in parking lots and/or garages.

As well, new parking customers will create 50% more support calls than existing customers, creating bottlenecks at the entry and exit gates.

Given this, we must find ways to reduce the risk and the cost while improving the ability to serve the parking experience - and if possible, monetize it.

To do this we have deployed a scorecard for communications that has helped consultants, integrators, and manufacturers create more value for the end user.

Intelligibility: the ability to hear, be heard and, most importantly, be understood.

Few things are more frustrating than hitting the support button on an intercom and having the noise from an idling engine obscure the message. There is a science and design to intelligible communications that can be specified and benchmarked before you purchase. This is not a simple thing to do. We know. We have spent millions of dollars on the form, function, and design of advanced audio techniques such as noise cancelling technology and volume control that automatically senses the need to adjust the volume based on the ambient noise around the intercom.

Interoperability: the ability to integrate and create business intelligence and optimization.

Parking customers expect parking devices to work. Parking owner’s revenue depends on the parking process running smoothly and efficiently. To this end, we have created an integration module that allows manufacturers of parking entry and exit devices, cashier terminals and pay stations, and even handheld devices to integrate our intelligibility into their solutions. Vendors such as SKIDATA, ParkingSoft, TIBA, Park ‘n FLY and AMANO McGANN have created integrated and intelligible communications as part of their value proposition to their customers.

But we don’t stop there. Interoperability must be a program as well as a technology. We work hard to have the top security manufacturers integrate intelligibility into their solutions, such as physical access control and video surveillance management.

We also have provided video intercom integration into an award-winning form and function that architects and engineers are proudly integrating into their designs.

‘ilities”: when your business and your mission is critical, IT demands the following:

• High Availability: 24x7 uptime
• Reliability: This impacts performance management.
• Defensibility: It is your data and it must be protected. Designing your solutions from the outset with cyber-defensibility in mind is our mission.
• Maintainability: Solutions that are hard to maintain create unexpected costs diluting the value of the organization. The solution should be immune to environmental aberrations and easily provisioned from a central operations center.
• Scalability: You should be able to expand to meet your needs without breaking the bank.

Once you have the core scorecard items covered, you can then begin to adapt intelligibility into areas that support your business such as:

• 24x7 Customer Service: Intercom stations with bi-directional voice as well as video authentication for gates, ticket vending machines, and points of sale.
• 24x7 Security and Safety: Call stations supported by video can intervene in any incident preventing bodily harm or property damage. Security services or first responders can be immediately called and provide precise situational awareness for an appropriate and efficient actionable response.
• Access Control: Using voice and video verification and validation, this could be the first and foremost protection to monetizing and/or validating access to your parking garage.
• Public Address: In emergencies, seconds matter. Studies show that 75% of people respond to clear, precise directions when they are under stress vs. 13% with sound alone. They need to hear and be heard.

Our scorecard, allows our clients to appropriately evaluate communication providers. They will understand how to measure intelligibility: the ability to hear, be heard and be understood. They will also gain the knowledge that intercom is not the solution but a core element made valuable through interoperability at the program and technology level. And, finally, they will work with their IT staff to ensure high availability, reliability, defensibility, maintainability, and scalability so that they are buying solutions that stand up to time and unanticipated circumstances.