By Katherine Beaty

Summer’s here. The sun is out, the beach traffic is real, and parking operations are heating up, literally and figuratively.  While you’re preparing your team for the seasonal rush and making sure the A/C hasn’t called it quits, let me ask you something: When was the last time you gave your tech stack a good old-fashioned summer tune-up?

If your answer is “uh…,” don’t worry. You’re not alone. Too often we treat our systems like that motorcycle that’s been sitting in the garage all winter. Everything seems fine, until you’re on the highway with smoke pouring out of the engine.

Let’s avoid that. Your technology should run as smoothly as a well-tuned motorcycle on an open highway, not sputter like a food truck stuck in parade traffic.

Start with the summer stress test

Let’s be real: Off-season performance means nothing in July. Consider that payment processor that handles 10 transactions an hour like a champ. What happens when it must juggle 50 per minute during the post-beach exodus?

I worked with an operator whose entire system would freeze when the mercury hit 85°. This resulted not from the heat, but because that’s when traffic to the local beach spiked. Servers couldn’t keep up. It was like clockwork: sunny day, system meltdown.

So, before the fireworks start — literally and operationally — stress test everything. Run simulations. Break your own systems on purpose. It’s far better to find the weak points now than while customers are waving sandals and honking in your lot.

The summer readiness checklist

Summer doesn’t just mean more volume, it’s different volume. Different people, different behaviors, different pressures. Ask yourself:

• Can your team handle extended hours without falling apart?

• Can your systems handle mobile usage spikes from tourists and first-timers?

• Are you ready for wild weather: heat waves, power outages, flash floods?

• Do your processes still make sense when your Tuesday crowd triples on Saturday?

Be honest. Winter settings rarely work under summer heat. It is kind of like wearing ski gear to a beach bonfire. You’ll sweat through the details in no time.

Optimize what matters most

This is the season where you learn what actually moves the needle. That flashy new feature from February? If it’s slowing you down in July, cut it loose. Nobody cares about parking insights driven by artificial intelligence when the line at the exit is backed up to the interstate.

Look for your bottlenecks. Are your license plate recognition cameras working when they’re caked in sunscreen mist and pollen? Can customers complete a transaction when your Wi-Fi is duking it out with every teenager livestreaming their poolside adventures?

Build and rehearse your summer playbook

Let’s be honest: The standard operating procedures you wrote when things were quiet and cozy aren’t going to cut it in peak-season chaos. Summer teams are often green, temporary, and tossed into high-stress situations with little context. They need clear, updated workflows that make sense when everything’s going sideways.

System crash on the busiest Saturday? App glitch right as a concert lets out? You need a plan and your team needs to know it cold. Don’t assume they’ll “figure it out.” That binder from 2017 isn’t going to save anyone.

Pro tip: Schedule a “what-if” day. Shut something down on purpose. Run the playbook. It’s like a fire drill, just with fewer sprinklers and way more smartphones.

Things will go wrong: It may be summer, but Murphy’s Law never takes a vacation. The goal isn’t just to prevent chaos, but to bounce back like pros when it hits.

Peak season reality check

Look at your busiest day from last summer and ask yourself: “Could we handle 20% more this year?”

Not just more cars, but more stressed-out customers, more edge-case failures, and more staff juggling responsibilities. That’s the benchmark. If your answer is a hard no, congrats, you’ve just identified where to focus your energy.

Stick with what works

Not everything needs an upgrade. That payment system that’s simple but battle-tested? Keep it. The reporting tool that gives you what you need in real-time? Stick with it. Summer isn’t about shiny, it’s about solid.

Use the 80/20 rule: 80% of your results come from 20% of your tech. Bulletproof the 20%.

Mid-summer maintenance: don’t skip it

Block off time in early summer for a mid-season tech check. You don’t need to overcomplicate it — just a quick audit of what’s humming, what’s struggling, and what needs triage.

Think of it like checking your oil on a road trip. It’s a 5-minute task that can prevent a major meltdown (and a lot of swearing).

Bottom line: If your parking tech can’t handle the summer heat, literally or operationally, it’s time for a tune-up. Get ahead of the problems, streamline what matters, and prepare your people like the pros they are.

Your customers will thank you. Your staff will thrive alongside you. And hey, you might actually enjoy the season instead of just surviving it.

KATHERINE BEATY is executive vice president of customer experience for TEZ Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].