Traffic and our ways of getting from A to B are currently undergoing a transformation. As a result, the traditional parking facility is morphing more and more into a versatile mobility hub. But with challenge comes opportunity: the opportunity for operators to offer their customers lots of added value, such as last-mile parking or park-and-ride deals. However, catching this wave of opportunity requires modern and, above all, rapidly deployable technologies. Here the concept of ‘agile software development’ is the key to success. It enables rapid software update deployment as a service that immediately benefits customers.
As a result of ongoing digitalization, our world is becoming more and more connected and fast-paced. The parking business is no exception. How so, and why? Here are some examples: customers who are used to storing all their documents on their smartphones would also like to carry their parking permits with them in digital form. At the same time, the digital parking permit is expected to double as a wallet of sorts for validations earned in surrounding shops. And of course, users will want to pay parking fees online.
However, customer demands tend to fluctuate: they won’t be the same tomorrow that they are today. Together with other current developments such as the rising trend toward e-mobility, this confronts car park operators with new challenges. As so often, flexibility is the key to success. Whether it’s the demand for software products that come prepared for future requirements, or the need to adjust existing systems to evolving requirements – in the parking business it is becoming increasingly difficult to cover all your bases if you can’t deliver updates fast enough.
That’s why SKIDATA has been employing agile software development methods for its online services for years, using approaches like Scrum or Kanban. These methods guarantee short development times as well as continuous communication between the car park operator, SKIDATA’s product management, local SKIDATA subsidiaries and our software development teams.
So where’s the benefit of all this? Easy: instead of providing large-scale software updates at long update cycles, agile development allows smaller updates to be deployed at short notice, at any time. This ensures a continuous flow of added value that eliminates long waiting times. Constant evaluation guarantees that the development always meets and exceeds the requirements. And if the requirements themselves change, the development focus can change with it – rapidly and efficiently. For car park operators, this means that their feedback and requests for online services can be implemented at a rapid pace.
With SKIDATA’s digital software delivery, all updates are downloaded and installed seamlessly during normal operation. This way, you get fast, flexible access to great new features to ensure a perfect parking experience for your visitors.
Long story short: Digitalization means that parking facility operators must be able to rely on fast and uncomplicated software updates. To meet this challenge, modern agile development concepts are already playing an important role and will become even more of a priority in the future. Only those who are able to meet current requirements and react quickly to the latest demands will have what it takes. They will be able to serve their customers with a winning formula: solutions that add real value and adjust to changing requirements at a competitive speed.