How to Choose the Right Enforcement and Permitting Vendor

During these uncertain times, it can be difficult for cities to make big decisions that directly impact their enforcement and permitting operations.

Whether you’re unhappy with your current provider, disappointed by your provider’s unmet promises, or considering implementing an enforcement and permitting solution to your parking network, it’s important that your vendor can easily integrate your existing parking infrastructure and provide real-time access to handle the entire parking citation lifecycle. 

Below, we’ve created a short guide to help you make the right decision and choose an enforcement and permitting vendor that’ll help your city maximize resources while improving efficiency.

Ensure That Your Vendor Allows for Scalability

While this should be obvious, many enforcement and permitting vendors on the market today are not able to scale according to your unique needs or cannot implement parking management system changes in a timely and efficient manner. 

If your future vendor does allow for scalability, then make sure that they can provide a detailed timeline, establish a scope of work early, implement changes quickly, and be fully invested in the transition process.

Ensure That Your Vendor Provides an Integrated Ecosystem

Your next enforcement and permitting vendor should ensure that each pay station and the rest of your products and services work seamlessly together. In other words, your vendor must be able to provide you a “one-stop-shop” ecosystem solution.

A few questions you should ask your vendor are: 

• Does your solution support iOS and Android software?
• Can your solution seamlessly integrate with my existing technology?
• Is your team fully aware of my enforcement and permitting operation?
• Can your technology handle citations on multiple platforms (smart devices and desktop web portal)?

If your future parking enforcement and permitting vendor cannot successfully address each of these questions, we recommend that you keep searching until you find a vendor that does.

Ensure That Your Vendor Allows for Cross-Compatibility

There’s nothing more frustrating than being told by your vendor that their enforcement and permitting solution will work perfectly with your third-party products, out-of-the-box.

Only to later find out that it doesn’t.

So, it is vitally important that your vendor offers cross-compatibility features with your current street parking network. Your future vendor should also be able to easily convert your legacy data into their solution, test your data, and provide you these services at a low price or even free of charge.

Ensure That Your Vendor Provides Integration Compatibility 

It’s important that your next parking enforcement and permitting vendor can seamlessly integrate with your existing street parking network.

This includes:

• Meters 
• Mobile Apps
• Permit Systems
• Handheld Devices
• Back-End/Online Parking Management System

Your next vendor should also be able to support current and future technology and provide you a singular point of contact, who thoroughly understands each facet of the integration process. This will be integral to enforcing parking regulations at each Smart City pay station in your preferential parking districts. 

Ensure That Your Vendor Provides Excellent Customer Service

Like any other business, you want to ensure that your enforcement and permitting vendor can provide excellent customer service at every point of your business relationship.

This includes being responsive to your requests: 

• Does your vendor return your calls?
• Does your vendor offer multiple points of contact? 
• Does your vendor email you back in a timely fashion?

Additionally, you want to ensure that your vendor can provide remote support for enforcement officers directly via their handheld parking citation device, as well as direct chat support for enforcement officers and parking administrators.

The last thing you want is a provider who puts your request on the backburner, directs you to the wrong person, or simply can’t handle your request in a timely and efficient manner.

Thinking about switching to a new enforcement and permitting vendor? Now may be the right time to switch to IPS Group. We can ensure that your transition goes smoothly and help you create a solution that can help your Smart City maximize resources, increase revenue, and achieve peak performance at every stage of the citation and permitting lifecycle. 

Click here to request an IPS Enforcement and Permitting Management Solution or call us at 858-404-0607