I was a history major, so I always look at the road an industry has taken to better understand how it got to where it is, as well as which roads will have the greatest influence moving into the future. When I look inside our industry, the parking industry of 42 years ago didn’t look anything like what we see today. In another 20 years it will again have changed and look nothing like it does today. It’s not going to take 20 years, though to look very different. Our managers and leaders today will make choices and decisions that will design and shape the parking industry of tomorrow. 

Our industry is being inundated with innovative technologies that will accomplish all kinds of tasks, but the developers of these technologies are not who will mold the future of the parking industry. Today’s managers and decision makers are the individuals who will determine our future. Every purchase made reflects a choice in technology that will take us down either an existing road or a new road. Demands made, or not made, on technology providers will define our expectations. 

Every policy decision made will play a role in charting the course to the future. I was lucky when I set out on my career in the parking industry. I was hired by and worked two doors down from the man who shaped the industry we all work in today. He made sure I had all the resources I needed to move into the future. He made sure every Saturday morning I sat in front of him so he could yell at me about everything I screwed up last week. He had his own training style. This year at PIE I will kick off a series of podcasts to offer my colleagues helpful resources as we move into our future. 

The presentation this year, “Our Industry” is the beginning of this series designed to address the new direction our industry is headed – rom technology, policies, processes, and the new demands from our customers and the people we report to. We will enlist the help of ranking experts to dissect questions and issues for a 360° view. We’ll do the research, please join us for the presentations. We hope you’ll find them meaningful, forthright, helpful and a little entertaining. Please post any questions you would like to see discussed on our website, www.parkingnetwork.com. In the meantime, you can check out our current list of topics at PIE 2022. 

You have to manage today, but you have to plan for the future, our business in the past was very slow to change, now it has the ability to change quickly. However, the largest impediment to change is you. The second largest is your staff, third are your suppliers, fourth is not your customers, but your ability to communicate change to your customers.

Looking forward to seeing you at PIE.