The world is evolving rapidly with technological advancements that are impacting every industry, including parking management. The parking industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years, with the emergence of various technology-driven solutions. These solutions include mobile parking applications (apps), automated parking systems, cloud-based management platforms, smart parking sensors, parking aggregators, and parking management software, among others. These innovations have made it easier for drivers to locate parking spaces, reserve them, and pay for them. Additionally, these technology solutions are making it easier for property teams to collect and analyze data, track their operations in real-time, and make data-driven decisions to optimize their services.

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Despite the growing availability of parking technology, there are still some barriers to innovation. One of the biggest obstacles is the reluctance of parking companies to embrace new solutions. Instead, they continue to operate in the traditional way, which limits their potential for growth and innovation. This is often due to the perceived high costs associated with technology implementation and the fear of disrupting their current business model. This has led to a fragmented market with many different parking technologies competing for adoption.

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Although most parking access and revenue control technology is automated, traditional parking management operations are still very reliant on humans. The reason for this is that the leading traditional parking operators run their businesses through a combination of their own reporting and billing systems, but then rely on a fragmented ecosystem of solutions for access, payments, parking reservations, marketing, and customer support. This is not meant to disparage these companies, but rather to highlight a major inefficiency and handicap in achieving a lean business model that runs more efficiently. Technology-driven parking management involves the use of cutting-edge technology and innovative strategies to enhance parking operations, making it more efficient, cost-effective, and convenient for both property owners and drivers. Vend, the leader in this space, has developed a comprehensive parking management platform that digitizes the traditional operator model. The idea behind technology-driven parking management is to use technology to streamline parking management operations and reduce the number of human hours required in the back office to perform those operations. The best analogy to compare traditional parking management to technology-driven parking management is US Airways and American Airlines vs JetBlue and Southwest. US Airways and American started after World War II and operate with a technology stack that is one of the oldest in the industry. The inability of these companies to innovate quickly opened doors for budget airlines like Southwest to break into the industry with lower operating costs and more flexible user platforms.

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While parking will always need human involvement, Vend Park's platform leverages technology to automate many of the tasks that were once done manually. This is similar to the evolution of car factories, where technology has made it possible to build cars more efficiently and with fewer people. The same principles apply to parking management, and Vend Park's platform is designed to enable parking companies to do more with less. It allows the technology to handle things like access control, payments, customer support, lease management, validation management, marketing & demand generation, reporting, and serves as the merchant of record handling monthly parking AR.  This reduces the workload on the operator or property team, leaving them to simply handle cleaning, maintenance, and security.

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The Vend Park platform is a tool that can be used to drive operational efficiencies internally as an operating company. This technology-driven approach allows for better revenue management, fewer costs, and a more streamlined parking experience for customers. The platform provides property owners with valuable insights into their parking operations, enabling them to make data-driven decisions about their parking assets. A benefit that is highly valuable for properties that are challenged in today’s economic landscape.  Vend is also highly scalable and not geolocation-focused. This means that it can be used in many different locations and is not limited by geography, making it an attractive solution for parking companies that want to expand their operations without having to invest in new infrastructure.

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As property owners continue to look for new ways to provide a better tenant experience and improve NOI, technology-driven parking management is gaining traction in the real estate industry. With the right technology in place, these owners can drive operational efficiencies, reduce costs, and provide a better parking experience for customers.

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