Enlarging the parking lot is not always the solution. Many companies have already installed Urbiotica’s
Parking as a bottleneck in the business and office routine
Before arriving at their workplace, most employees access the parking lot and it is there where small incidents can have a major impact on the operation of the office or company: employees lose time, there are wasted spaces, queues arise, visitors get lost… And the important thing is to understand that these problems are not always due to a lack of parking spaces, but to how the parking lot is managed.
1. Time wasted looking for a place
Driving around and around in search of a free parking space can cause employees to start the day stressed or late for work. What seems like just a few minutes, if we consider hundreds of employees, we are talking about hours of lost productivity every day.
2. Unutilized spaces
While some drivers are frustrated without finding a parking space, others remain empty because they are assigned to uses that do not meet the needs of the company or office. This inflexibility forces employees to leave the parking lot or misuse the available space.
3. Queues at the entrances to the
parking
In the parking lot, it is easy for queues to form at access barriers and central aisles at specific times that coincide with the start of the workday and, sometimes, lunch breaks. This turns the entrances and exits to the parking lot into a funnel that slows down the entire workforce using the facilities at the same time.
4. Disorientation of visitors
For one-time visitors arriving for a meeting or going to the company to make a delivery, it is normal for them to be disoriented if they do not go frequently and, in addition, the venue is large. However, having clear directions on where to park will make the process much easier and ensure they arrive on time.
5. Impractical manual management
Many companies still use paper lists, shared keys or authorizations to manage who can park in which parking space. This system does not offer flexibility when it comes to assigning parking spaces, it is administratively burdensome and can even lead to internal conflicts due to errors or confusion.
Why isn’t the solution always to expand the parking lot?
When the above problems occur, it seems that it is due to a lack of parking spaces and that a new project must be planned to expand the parking lot. In most cases this is not the case and, in fact, it leads to other problems: high investment to build new floors or modify the structure of the building, additional space for the expansion project, time it takes to complete the work and the interruptions it entails, etc.
Therefore, more and more companies are looking to make the most of existing spaces with intelligent guidance solutions for companies such as Urbiotica’s, which organize the space in a short time and without the need for any construction work. Since users can know which areas are free in real time and spaces can be reserved for specific uses according to the needs of the moment, unnecessary routes that cause congestion in the parking lot are reduced and better use is made of the available space.
How is this possible? Thanks to sensors that are placed at ground level or on pavement, variable signage panels located at strategic points to guide employees and visitors and even, if desired, have all the information collected in an application for corporate use.
Smart Parking for corporate environments
Common cases in offices and companies
Urbiotica’s intelligent systems are quick to install and scalable, they can cover the most stressed areas first and without interrupting the use of the parking lot. Moreover, the different devices can be adapted to all types of spaces and needs: companies with staggered shifts, offices with many visitors, multi-storey parking lots, etc.
1. Company with staggered shifts
When it comes to companies with staggered shifts, there is a risk of congestion occurring at more than one time of the day, with several people needing to use the same parking spaces at different times. With a smart parking system, each shift can have assigned parking spaces so that the rotation of vehicles is more agile.
2. Offices with many visitors
Visitors usually do not know the company’s parking facilities , so they look for parking spaces at random and this can delay meetings or deliveries. With the intelligent guidance system, as in the previous point,
3. Multi-storey parking lots
In large multi-storey parking lots, whether subway or elevated, it can take much longer to find a free space, so well-placed variable signage panels can transmit in real time which floors have the most spaces available so you can go straight to them.
Impact on the daily experience of employees, visitors and the company.
With intelligent guidance solutions like Urbiotica’s, improvements are almost immediate. Employees who previously took up to 15 minutes to find a free space before starting their shift now park in 2 minutes, while visitors go from going round and round to receiving clear directions from the entrance. In addition, optimizing internal circulation reduces the risk of small accidents and friction between vehicles, which means less complaints about occupied spaces or confusion for the company, greater flexibility in assigning spaces or organizing parking according to the needs of the moment, and better use of the available space without having to resort to new investments.
