Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO APCOA Parking, interviewed by Ross Falconer.
Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO APCOA Parking: “The consumer is looking for more and more convenience in help with finding a space, pre-booking, navigation, battery charging, payment, flexible times, and contactless parking. This may come from an app or be completely built into a car.”
Digitalisation and urbanisation are triggering a change in individual mobility. This represents a great opportunity to further increase efficiency in car park management, and ultimately in convenience for car parkers.
In only a few years from now, we will live in a different world where hybrid and electric cars will rule the roads. Sooner or later, many of these cars will be self-driving cars, which is one of the key reasons for parking facility operators to develop strategies to address digitalisation.
“One thing is certain, the parking industry will look very different in the not too distant future,” says Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO APCOA Parking. “Consequently, every player involved in this process is urged to rethink its business models, in order to provide the most convenient and desirable products and services to its current and future B2B and B2C consumers.”
APCOA Parking is embracing innovation across its portfolio of more than 1.4 million parking spaces, with parking facilities at over 30 airports.
A successful offer in the future will need to represent an integrated and comprehensive solution, covering all aspects of the consumer journey – from e-booking platforms to navigation tools, park space finder, electric charging infrastructure, and e-payment options. Op de Beeck explains that such an integrated solution will come in the form of a smartphone app. “These services will be completely integrated into the smartphone, but also in the car. As a consequence, parking as a service will become a higher-quality and more consumer-oriented product. Digitalisation will shift the power from the car park owner to the consumer.”
It is clear that digitalisation is going to have a significant impact on the parking industry, and Big Data is set to play an increasingly central role in these developments. “There are technical systems that use Big Data to generate forecasts of parking facility occupancy patterns,” Op de Beeck comments. “This will dramatically reduce the number of drivers circling looking for parking spaces.”
Among the parking innovations already implemented at other locations, which could be implemented at airports, are automatic license plate recognition for barrier-free parking, and customer loyalty cards.
Electric vehicle charging is becoming increasingly important in all European markets – the most advanced being Norway. Other European markets are picking up speed as well, and APCOA will have installed about 200 recharging points at 100 locations in Germany by the end of the year. “We see a great opportunity for us to provide electric vehicle charging as an additional service for our customers,” Op de Beeck notes. “As infrastructure within the mobility chain, car parks will have an even higher importance in the future serving as mobility hubs where refuelling, car sharing and other services will increase customer convenience. As a consequence, we will continue to increase our electric vehicle charging network in all markets, including our airport locations.”
Ultimately, advancements in parking technology mean customers will notice that they have become more important in the whole process – their needs and requirements will be fulfilled to a higher degree, with more pre-booking services; more barrier-free zones; and more automatic payment, e-payment, and mobile payment. Meanwhile, smartphone apps will map and display the whole customer journey, and navigate customers to available parking spaces. These innovations will truly deliver parking convenience at the touch of a button.
