When your user base just keeps growing, I’m pretty sure you can confidently take it as a sign that what you’re offering is something much needed.
Since its launch in 2015, JomParking has had over 500k user downloads, an ever-increasing number from their achievement of 1,790 users in the first year.
Nasir, CEO and founder of JomParking reflected on this growth, telling Vulcan Post, “There’s a definite change in users going digital. We’ve seen a rapid and major increment of users annually.”
People are also more likely to turn to technology to solve problems nowadays, paying for parking included.
“In addition, with the current COVID-19 pandemic, our numbers are increasing as people are more inclined to opt for contactless payment options to make their parking experience stress-free,” he said.
Steadfastly Parked In The Hearts Of Its Users
Even in its early years, it felt as though JomParking had thought of everything. They gave users as much info as possible: the area, zone name, its parking rates, and operating hours.
If your mum couldn’t find a parking machine and didn’t have a phone, or wasn’t savvy enough to use the app? They already had an “add another vehicle” feature that let you pay for her, anytime, anywhere.
Now, they’ve added the option for users to get notified if they receive parking summons, although this has only been rolled out in Tanah Merah District Council, Kelantan, for now. They’re in the process of implementing it in other areas too.
Some other features they’ve added to the app include:
- Transaction history, for users who wish to claim their parking payments,
- Tokens that don’t expire (RM1 = 100 tokens, the app’s currency to pay for parking),
- Token sharing, so users have more options for managing tokens.
Recently, DBKL’s announcement of working with multiple cashless parking payment apps caused a bit of an uproar when JomParking wasn’t initially revealed as one of them.
Users found it odd, as they were already accustomed to using JomParking in DBKL areas since 2015, back when it was the only cashless payment in the area.
This was later resolved, and JomParking was back to being active in DBKL areas, much to the relief of their users.
Moving Into Corporate Partnerships
Being a startup, JomParking realised the importance of visibility early on. So they joined MaGIC’s first cohort of their Global Accelerator Programme (GAP) and were able to showcase their solutions to industry experts and potential investors.
Today, they’re able to stay connected to the community through exhibitions, events, and talks, all of which have opened doors of opportunities for the team.
They’ve even been able to showcase their products and services abroad at the InnoVEX exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, for example.
JomParking has ventured into corporate partnerships as well, and one of their most recent is with a VC from South Korea, TheVentures.
“Our strategic partnership with TheVentures will enable us to enhance our systems and technology in our efforts to lead the digitalisation of the parking industry in Southeast Asia,” Nasir said.
“This is in line with our aim to build the first vehicle data exchange in Southeast Asia, whilst spearheading the parking industry’s transition into adopting the Smart City concept.”
To make this a reality, they’re working closely with other agencies such as MaGIC, MARii, MDEC, SITEC, Cradle and Cyberview.
Driving Growth Locally & Globally
“Ultimately, the aim is to cover the whole of Malaysia as the potential of digitalising parking is vast and nationwide,” Nasir answered, when Vulcan Post asked about some of the next areas JomParking wanted to move into.
Currently, JomParking has over 20 sites nationwide, and 2 sites globally in Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka.
Even during the CMCO, they were able to launch 2 new local sites, one of which was the aforementioned Tanah Merah, Kelantan, and Taman Mutiara Raya, Cheras.
In the pipeline, they’ve got 17 new site launches lined up—10 in the domestic front, and 7 abroad.
With every site launch, they’d carry out 2-week long, on-ground marketing activities to get the news out.
On top of that, they also carry out various online campaigns, and have worked with notable brands such as Grab, Huawei, AirAsia, and iflix.
It’s true that there are other players in the cashless parking payment scene, but Nasir doesn’t see the competition as something to be too worried about.
Competition to him is just a means to keep pushing for innovation, and every business has its own advantages and disadvantages.
He even added rather diplomatically, “JomParking is happy to not only share the trick of the trade with other states that are interested to digitalise their parking payment system, but also to co-exist with other applications.”
Featured Image Credit: Muhamad Nasir Habizar, CEO of JomParking
