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Downtown Tempe
The Final Piece of the Parking Puzzle in Tempe, Arizona
In Tempe, Arizona, managing parking operations while the city grows rapidly poses significant challenges. By utilizing Parker Technology, the city adapts to growth demands, staffing challenges, and creates a better parking experience for citizens and visitors alike.
At a Glance
In Tempe, Arizona, managing parking operations amidst a rapid growth of the city poses significant challenges. By utilizing Parker Technology, the city adapts to growth demands, staffing challenges, and creates a better parking experience for citizens and visitors alike.
Location
Tempe, Arizona
Industry
Municipality
The Challenge
Maintaining customer experience amidst staffing issues in a growing city
The Solution
Parker Technology fit in perfectly with Downtown Tempe’s goal to incorporate technology in their parking experience
“Parker's representatives handle driver complaints in a consistent and professional manner which provides me with piece of mind knowing one of the critical components to the operation is in good hands."
VP of Operations at Downtown Tempe Authority
The Final Piece of the Parking Puzzle in Tempe, Arizona
It’s no surprise that Tempe, Arizona is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. There’s a common cliché about cities offering a little of everything people could want. Well, Tempe offers a lot of everything anyone could want. For people who love the sun and outdoor recreation, it offers more than 300 days of sunshine every year. For food lovers, there are over 200 restaurants in and around the city. There are also numerous parks and lakes, museums, hiking trails, and arts centers. For sports lovers, three major league baseball teams visit for spring training.
Tempe is also an industrial powerhouse. Some of the world’s best-known aerospace, software development and manufacturing, and solar energy research companies have a presence in Tempe.
And on top of all this, Tempe is a classic college town. It’s home to Arizona State University, one of the largest universities in the United States. ASU has more than 70,000 students and is well known in college athletics as the home of the ASU Sun Devils.
Tempe may be the perfect place to live, work, or visit, but its popularity offers significant parking challenges. Simply put: more people mean more cars on city streets, which can lead to a potentially volatile parking situation. Running Tempe’s parking system is a complex and challenging job. Anthony Strait, Downtown Tempe’s Vice President of Operations and former Vice President of Parking Operations, was the man charged with managing the city’s parking system. He’s a firm believer in using technology to make parking more efficient, while improving the parking experience.
“I like leveraging technology from an efficiency standpoint and to improve the parking experience, but there’s also a sustainability aspect to it,” said Strait.
City-Wide Customer Service
Parker Technology’s customer service solution is one of the technologies Strait relies upon to improve the parking experience in Tempe’s municipal parking facilities.
“Parker Technology’s platform is perfect for my operations,” said Strait. “Since we partnered with Parker, the user experience has become much better. There are all sorts of little nuances that can happen with a parking operation that you wouldn’t otherwise know if you didn’t have the right technology.”
From a customer service perspective, Parker provides a direct connection between drivers and trained customer service representatives when a problem arises while parking. Parker Technology’s cloud-based software platform and API integration with the City’s FLASH equipment is what facilitates this connection so seamlessly. Not to mention, Parker’s representatives are trained to identify the nature of the problem and work with the driver to solve the problem and get them on their way.
Data Collection and Management
One of the benefits of Parker Technology is that it is constantly collecting data about the calls customer service representatives receive, and it analyzes that data. At any time, Strait and his staff can pull a report that tells them how many calls were received and what types of problems they are seeing most often. Then, they can fix the problem. If there’s an issue with the access and revenue equipment, they can get it repaired. If there’s repeated suer error, they can add signage or simplify payment processes.
For instance, the data showed him that there was an increase in contact from tenants using the help button to be let out of a garage. A closer look at the report showed that there was a miscommunication issue that caused a specific tenant to have trouble exiting. Due to the issue, the gate was raised when that tenant exited, and the garage was losing that revenue. Strait addressed the issue with the tenant and demonstrated how to use the equipment properly. Without the data from our technology, he wouldn’t have identified the problem, and he would still be losing that revenue.
“Parker's software allows me to know the full story on customer interactions. For instance, we have a frequent user who often complains about rude staff interactions. With the data in Parker's platform, I can go back and review the video footage of the interaction and see what happened. In this instance, we found that the person complaining was actually treating our staff rudely."
VP of Operations at Downtown Tempe Authority
Remedying Staffing
Tempe’s parking operations division, like many employers, has found it increasingly difficult to find and hire staff. Fortunately, for parking owners like the City of Tempe, the automation trend that has dominated parking in recent years also allows parking owners to operate with fewer employees, moving staff from collection booths at facility exits to serve other essential roles or allowing fewer staff to cover more facilities.
Parker Technology is an essential tool in an automated parking world because it makes sure there is a person available to help even when there is no staff onsite, or if onsite staff is busy elsewhere. This has been a particularly important benefit for Tempe’s parking operations.
“After integrating Parker Technology, we now have coverage 24/7. Now I'm able to have an attendant there, at the push of a button, no matter what time it is. If there's a problem, we know somebody's going to answer and a live person is going to come onto the video screen, no matter what time it is. And so, by leveraging technology, we're able to offer that increased level of service to the parkers who are using our facilities."
VP of Operations at Downtown Tempe Authority
A Technologically Advanced Municipal Parking Operation
Anthony Strait and his team of parking professionals are committed to leveraging technology to provide a better parking experience to patrons who rely on Downtown Tempe’s municipal parking facilities. Parker Technology’s customer service solution is an essential part of that commitment to technology. Through the combination of technology of people, Parker’s solution helps bridge the gap when customer service issues arise.
“From someone who started out in a booth, what Parker and their team do is amazing. How they handle themselves every call, call after call every day, every shift, is remarkable. It takes a very special type of person to be able to do what Parker's people do."
VP of Operations at Downtown Tempe Authority
Learn more about how Parker Technology can give you peace of mind in your facility’s operation
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