Key Insights and Industry Trends from Intertraffic 2018
Posted 11 May 2018, UK
With Amsterdam’s Intertraffic now being an object seen in the rear-view mirror of 2018, it’s time to reflect on what can be learnt from the world’s largest parking exhibition and put our industry insights to greater use.
Not only did Intertraffic serve as a highly successful networking and business-procurement opportunity for ADVAM, but it also provided a platform for analysing and understanding how quickly, and in which direction, the traffic industry is moving.
One of ADVAM’s focuses predominantly lies in innovative parking solutions and, having kept an eye on the industry’s developments over the past four years of Intertraffic, we’ve summarised the most powerful conclusions to draw based on this year’s event in March.
‘Less’ is More
When it comes to parking, descriptors that end in ‘less’ (ticketless, cashless, seamless, etc.) are what propels the industry into producing innovative solutions that greater prosper the parking customer. It is by removing the potential pain points of parking, and reducing the conscious labours of the end user, that the parking provider creates more and more value – both for the consumer and their satisfaction with the experience, and for the operator in the form of understanding your customers and driving greater loyalty.
The theme of ‘less is more’ was one which was hugely evident throughout Intertraffic; from smart phone access control readers, to an in-dash predictive parking and payment solution, industry leaders are continuously uncovering new ways to save their parking customers time, energy and petrol.
For ADVAM, customer experience improvement as the common driver of product innovation has confirmed two underlying truths: that it would be a huge misconception to generally describe the parking industry as ‘traditional’ or ‘stagnant’, and that there is now (more than ever) a great deal of evidence as to why ticketless parking matters.
Integration Drives Innovation
Finally (and off the back of less actually being more), one of the more important lessons to be learned from the event is this: technology which integrates is technology which innovates.
Take airport parking as an example – with (on average) 75% of non-aeronautical revenue being generated by customer parking, airport businesses are more than justified in their pursuit for disruptive technological solutions as a means of fostering this source of income and gaining a competitive advantage.
But what value does the flashiest, most technologically-advanced parking equipment hold if it does not integrate with multiple access methods? What if your current PSP doesn’t integrate with your new equipment provider? Or your online pre-book platform doesn’t tie in with your chosen BI system?
If there’s any one thing that ADVAM advocates, it’s integration. From our fully-configurable reservations platform, account-based ticketless parking platform and to our longstanding partnerships with world-leading equipment providers, ADVAM strives to embody thought leadership through technological flexibility.
One example of how ADVAM continues to evolve in-line with the power of integration was the exclusive Intertraffic release of our latest solution: UnattendedConnect.
UnattendedConnect provides the flexibility to connect to any major bank of choice using existing payment terminals whilst ensuring that your customers’ payment journey is fast, easy and secure. The greatest benefit lies in the power of the ADVAMGateway, which has connections to acquirer links in over 20 countries – supporting your global business network while ADVAM assists your terminal provider through the EMV certification process.
The Gist of Intertraffic 2018
For those who were unable to attend this year’ event, here’s a snapshot image that summarises everything you need to know about what’s new in the parking/traffic industry:
Mobile apps are growing increasingly popular – with 44% of the world’s population possessing smartphones in 2017, businesses are quickly finding new ways to use this technical commonality as a way of delivering a highly-integrated, user-friendly experience. Examples include a mobile-friendly predictive BI platform, cashless parking apps and apps that use historical traffic data to predict parking availability.
Interactivity is driving engagement – more and more operators are looking at ways to identify and engage with their customers. The highly competitive nature of the parking industry, plus the increasingly demanding customer expectations, means that operators cannot just provide a parking space in return for payment. As consumers drive this demand onto parking operators, suppliers are providing solutions that enable the operator to not only know who their customer is, but drive engagement and consumer loyalty.
Security is still of the highest priority – the core of ADVAM’s business lies in delivering the highest standard of secure payments processing available, and security clearly played a pivotal role at Intertraffic. Technology is being utilised to provide further customer and data insights, and to ultimately deliver a safer experience to road users. New innovations include smartphone vehicle access solutions, faster and more effective vehicle immobilisation equipment, intuitive traffic light detection for cyclists and speed-monitoring ANPR cameras.
Summary
Due to its neotraditional nature, the parking industry is rare in the sense that it continues to technologically develop at a considerable rate whilst still retaining a resolute core of customer-centricity and excellent networkability. Although Intertraffic only provides an opportunistic insight into the expansive world that is parking, it is a clear and historical account of the traffic industry’s evolution.
With sound-bite frequency access methods in development and long-range RFID readers gaining momentum, Intertraffic presents a number of attractive opportunities for ADVAM to pursue in preparation for an even more integrated, state-of-the-art parking industry future.
