Parking security system: the pros & cons of a single-vendor solution
Full disclosure before we get too far into this. OPS-COM offers a single-vendor parking security system for related management so we’re clearly biased when it comes to this topic. We believe the benefits of a single vendor far out way the potential drawbacks. But, we’ll try to be objective in this blog because ultimately, we want you to have the information you need to make good business decisions about how you manage your parking and security operations. We’d love to hear what you think.
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Parking Security System
Your parking and security system is like any other part of the IT infrastructure that you rely on every day. Some of you may still be managing your processes with spreadsheets you’ve built yourself. However the clear majority of parking and security operations use one or more software applications from one or more vendors.
The parking security system you have in place may have been built in stages. Functionality from different vendors was added as your operational needs changed. For example, you started with a program that manages your clients or users, and then implemented parking online. You may have eventually adopted other features like incident tracking, pay by plate, or mobile parking. This scenario you could have as many as 5 different systems using the same information and data. As a result, managers must tie it all together for proper record keeping.
Other operations may have adopted and implemented the entire system at once. There is no right or wrong way to structure your parking and security system, but there are some advantages and disadvantages with how you approach your vendors and the potential to integrate multiple systems.
To clarify what we mean by a single vendor system, this is when you would source all the software components of your parking and security operations from a single company. That company could be providing you with more than one piece of software or module, but they are all products of the same company.
By contrast, a multi-vendor parking security system would suggest that your system is a mix of software or modules from different companies.
Simplified Vendor Relationships
Advantage: single-vendor
While it might not seem like a relationship with software vendors is that important, it is. (At least we like to think it is with our clients). There are many different points at which you need to work with a vendor and sourcing all of your solutions from one simplifies and expedites the process. With a single vendor you eliminate the need to manage multiple contracts and service level agreements and instead gain a single point of contact for support teams for any technical or trouble shooting issues. You’ll need to manage these with either one or several vendors:
- Pricing and contract negotiations
- Contract renewals
- Service level agreements
- Installation, integration, and trouble shooting
- Technical support resources