Every single industry today is facing this same question. We question daily the business viability, the technology used, and the skill set required to navigate the new tides.

The parking industry is not any different. We are all witnessing the death of brick and mortar and the rise of smart technology, big data, and IoT. The pandemic accelerated this transformation, and the entire world witnessed the importance of technology and its benefits in providing continuity.

Every evolution comes with a new set of skills and a shift in focus. While functional and technical skills take most of the attention, there is now a significant shift of focus toward soft skills, traits that technology alone cannot deliver. While digital literacy, data analysis, and technical fluency are crucial to the survival of parking professionals in the office and on the front lines alike, I believe that the following soft skills will be equally essential to cope with the new paradigm:

• Creativity: Challenges and problem-solving are at the heart of parking management, and standard operating procedures are no longer sufficient to tackle new subject areas like curb management, electric vehicle operation, electric bike and scooter management, mobile app integration, last-mile delivery integration, smart cities support, and integration, to name a few. 
• Emotional Intelligence: Empathy, integrity, and working well with others are crucial skills to survive the new workplace in the post-pandemic era. EQ will always keep a clear difference between machines/technology and humans and will be the center of the vital requirement for any human-delivered role in the parking industry. This transitions us to the next crucial skill in our industry: customer service.
• Customer Service: Being customer-centric and resolving conflicts requires high emotional intelligence. Those two skills go hand-in-hand for our frontliners, with the ever-complicated evolution of parking technology and integration with other essential services becoming a part of visitors’ journey and experience.
• Lifelong learning attitude and growth mindset: Learning new skills is essential to remain relevant and add value to your domain. Having an open mind and accepting and adapting to change requires a continuous investment in one›s knowledge and skills. We have come a long way from when parking was mere facility management placed in a terrible section of every business leader’s P&L to becoming as sophisticated and attractive as the most advanced financial instruments. ◆