By Kristen Locke, CAPP

The rapid acceleration of contactless payments is helping operations offer better customer experiences, reduce hardware maintenance, and streamline operations. With more electronic payments, payment processing now has a huge effect on a parking provider’s revenue.

Despite all that, it’s rarely a part of discussions about long-term business strategy. Why?

When considering a new technology, there are a dizzying number of factors to consider: customer ease-of-use, integration with other systems, and more. Understandably, the specific limitations of each vendor’s payment processing method can get lost in the shuffle of larger concerns.

However, maintaining the ability to choose within the decision-making process is important.

Many people periodically reassess what services they are paying for to make sure they’re getting the best rate. Parking services aren’t afforded that option, despite the effect merchant processing fees have on revenue when parking rates increase, technology changes, or customer behavior changes.

We’ve seen parking operators lose potential revenue because of technology restrictions. The option to evaluate and potentially switch who acts as the merchant of record also helps you offer better, up-to-date experiences to customers.

Now more than ever, having flexible choices is vital to making smarter business and technology decisions moving forward.

Kristen Locke, CAPP, is senior regional sales manager, West at ParkMobile.