Five reasons why your tenants will be happy that you’re going digital in the car park

It’s not often that digital tools stir emotions, but when it comes to the tenant experience, a great digital experience in the car park will leave tenants feeling completely wowed. That’s because parking is an emotive issue and when commuters can use car parks how they need to, they’ll feel heard and understood. And if your tenants are happy with their parking, they’re more likely to renew their leases, giving your bottom line more certainty.

It makes sense that tenant experience is at the heart of digital transformation in commercial real estate. Considering our work hours and the number of digital tools we have access to to improve our work lives, we’re all well aware of what a great experience feels like and what falls short.

The impact on tenant experience is only one part of making a case for automating the car park. If you’d like more information on other areas like monetisation or process improvements, download our product whitepaper here (no email needed).

Here’s how digital parking management tools deliver a better tenant experience:

1. Tenant expectations are at an all-time high: Tenants are demanding premium office environments with features like wellness rooms, collaboration spaces, and in-house cafes. Matching the above-ground experience with a great below-ground experience will make sure that you’re one step closer to meeting tenant expectations. 
   
   Traditional parking approaches like a fixed number of parks linked to leases are becoming outdated. By adopting advanced parking tools, you’ll be able to meet your tenants' expectations while directly and positively impacting your building occupancy.
   
   
2. People do business with people… who listen (and take action): Each year, companies like CBRE and JLL ask their tenants to rank the importance of physical amenities like cafes, gyms, parking, and access to public transport. Year after year, on-site parking is ranked as the second most important tenant amenity (second only to cafes). 
   
   Everyone says parking is important, but if your car park is being run like it was in the 1990s, it’s time to review the settings to see if it's truly delivering on its promise. Can parkers book their spaces in advance, or share them between colleagues? Can they securely access the car park without using a swipe card?  When you start taking action in the areas that matter, you’ll be on your way to tenant joy.
   
   
3. Better real-time information: Life (and business) comes with curve balls and change. But it’s how we deal with the change that helps build a stronger workplace culture. When parking is mapped and managed within a digital tool, anyone can check for a parking space freed up by someone else at the last minute. Parking availability updates in real-time give everyone the chance to book on the day (as well as a week ahead).
   
   
4. First-come-first-served parking: Parking that rewards those who arrive early with a car park quickly creates a sense of inequity and unfairness that doesn’t belong at work. Although seen less often today, working parents and other late starters bear the brunt of the inequity under this approach. Digital tools that include a fairness allocation algorithm help everyone start their day on the right track - a fair and equitable one. 
   
   
5. Car park hierarchy: A few years ago, we were much more accepting of the car park hierarchy.  It favoured senior leaders having a permanent space, with little thought to whether they’d always be in the office 40 hours per week or dramatically less. However, in recent years, workplace cultures have changed to such an extent that this is largely unacceptable. No longer just the realm of innovative startups, we’re seeing traditionally conservative workplaces like legal and accountancy practises throwing the car park hierarchy out the window in favour of more equitable approaches, including a booking system and parking fairness algorithm.

The impact on tenant experience is only one part of the business case when planning a parking digital transformation project. If you’d like more information on the other areas, download our latest product whitepaper on “The Parking Paradox: How today’s commercial office parking challenges are solved with technology’. (No email needed to download)