REVIEW
smartphones to communicate over short distances to perform a range of functions. This includes booking tables at restaurants, exchanging business cards and buying cinema tickets, as well as booking and paying for parking. The commercial director of PayByPhone left his audience wondering how on earth they are coping in their daily lives without access to the technology that is currently being rolled out across the globe. NFC is a set of standards allowing smartphones to communicate over short distances – up to a maximum of four centimetres. This short distance means NFC is a secure payment application; more so than contactless cards, claims Bevan. The technology of the system allows users to share information – for example tapping your phone with that of a business colleague will allow you to swap electronic business cards. Users can also pair up with a mobile headset for communication purposes or use it to interact with another device – such as a pay-and- display machine.
Although similar to Bluetooth, NFC consumes less power, the target doesn’t need a power source, and its security is of a higher level, allowing you to wipe all information remotely if the phone is lost. NFC is also in a strong market position as it has been supported by major providers such as Microsoft, Google, Intel, RIM, T-Mobile and Nokia among others. It is also backed by the large banks. Market observers predict that 30 per cent of all phones will be NFC-enabled by 2015. Big industries are forming or grouping together to create mobile wallets – the PayPal mobile being one example of this. San Francisco is the first parking authority to go fully NFC, and currently there are 26,000 parking spaces in the US west coast city that are NFC-enabled. A similar system has just gone live in Tunbridge Wells in Kent, and it is expected that many towns and cities will quickly follow suit.
PARKEX REPORT Parking solutions
ENSURING ACCESS ‘We are really pleased to be working with the BPA this year. We want to work with the parking sector to improve the accessibility to facilities by people with disabilities,’ said Sarah Dowd-Crosby, head of fund-raising at VoiceAbility.
She explained that VoiceAbility is the MAY 2012 23
charitable organisation helping disabled people to have a voice and gain equal access to facilities that should be available to everyone, no matter what their level of ability. VoiceAbility works with both disabled people to increase their confidence and with companies and businesses to raise awareness of accessibility issues. Dowd-Crosby is looking to recruit volunteers to help spread the word of VoiceAbility, but she also emphasised that involvement could be a two-way process and businesses that get involved with VoiceAbility will benefit in a number of ways. She said that, by supporting VoiceAbility, a company can get its name in front of a wide audience, many of whom may be potential clients. Equally, by getting involved, an operator can expand its network of contacts within local authorities, government and other companies. VoiceAbility can also help a company achieve its corporate, social responsibility targets by providing training in racial and accessibility issues.
A film outlining the work of VoiceAbility and the BPA can be viewed on the BPA website.
PARKEX REPORT
Thinking outside the box THE BAILIFF SESSION
The bailiff session was dominated by the on-going government review of the bailiff services. Philip Evans, chair of the local authority debt enforcement and recovery (Lader) forum, likened the reform by the Ministry of Justice to a Lego model: ‘Many bits can be used to build a model but the final product depends upon which bits are used and which are discarded.’ He said the whole process had been very slow, but now was the time for bailiffs and local authorities to ensure that they were engaged in the consultation. ‘The MoJ might take a number of elements and produce a very mechanical procedure and a cold process. On the other
hand you might be able to build a more tolerant and ‘softly, softly procedure.’ Evans added that local authorities needed to ensure they maintained responsibility for their bailiff services, even if the bailiffs were operating under a concession agreement. Such an agreement means that the local authority allows the bailiff company to operate as a private company, which could lead to the local authority handing over all responsibility and losing accountability for bailiff behaviour.
The industry must look carefully at the balance between the needs of the local authority and the opportunity for the bailiff
industry to implement an effective business plan, said Evans. He warned: ‘We must be careful what we wish for. We are at tipping point, be careful which bits of the Lego set gets discarded.’ Jamie Waller, chief executive of JBW, warned against impractical cost cutting measures: ‘If local authorities do the first part of the collection process and, when that route is exhausted, hand it to the bailiffs, then the fee structure will not be proportionate. ‘We saw this with Council
Tax collection. It was a situation that led to bad practitioners within the industry, and people who pay covering the costs of those who do not.’
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52