Bike 4 Beasts

Four years ago a mountain bike race was organised to raise money for and to create awareness of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s conservation work. The event has been such a success that it has been repeated annually since then with four successful events being staged on the De Beers Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve and a further challenge, now in its second year, on the Ezemvelo Nature Reserve, in Gauteng.

With the aim of supporting the Endangered Wildlife Trust (www.ewt.org.za), the BIKE4BEASTS MTB Challenge has raised over a quarter of a million Rand. Each year a different threatened species is chosen as our mascot. In 2007 it was the Black Rhino, in 2008 it was the African Wild Dog and for the 2009 challenge it was the Cheetah. For 2010 we have chosen the Lion as our new mascot.

Zeag South Africa are proud to have sponsored the Bike 4 Beasts Mountain Bike Challenge at Ezemvelo Nature Reserve 2010.  The environment and our wildlife are under increasing threat. The Endangered Wildlife Trust through fund raising initiatives such as Bike 4 Beasts, are able to limit stresses man has imposed on the environment and our wildlife. Zeag are proud to have contributed towards supporting their important conservation activities. For more information on Bike 4 Beasts please visit their website at http://www.lycaonlogistics.co.za/BBSponsors.htm

A Discussion with Zeag CEO, Bernard Lacoste

http://www.parkingworld.com/s_article.php?id=92

CREDIT CARD ACCEPTANCE. There is no doubt that since it was begun in the mid 1990’s credit card usage has moved our industry in new product development, first in Europe, then in the US.”

Thus . Bernard Lacoste, CEO of Zeag Group, began his discussion with Parking Today about the parking business and his company’s relation to it.

“Our core business is parking. We have been doing it for 55 years. Nothing else. Often we aren’t the most sexy product, but it works. We provide parking controls for garages. We specialize in parking and we know the business.

“We take our product to market using direct sales, dealers, and branch offices. With technology becoming more complex, we cannot rely completely on dealer sales, however in large countries it is impossible to support our products properly without local dealer activity. In some cases, customers want a dealer.

“Our newest product? The Orion Xbit. It’s a low end system that fits the small car park, the small garage. Its compact, simple, but it can integrate into our larger parking management system. Our new ‘Gateway’ software provides also an “open interface” to our Zeag Management System for our customers. Interfacing is important.”

“Our customers tell us that our products are reliable. There are no surprises. Like all manufacturers we do best when we provide a standard product. If a customer wants to change our standard, it can become a challenge, as it can, for example, create PCI issues. We are a global player and therefore we must be ready to provide and support our products in 140 countries. “

“An important thing when we talk to customers is for us to understand their requirements. We must know the difference between “nice to have” and “need to have.” I like to make sure that when salespeople sell they don’t just sell a feature to get a commission. If it’s not a ‘need’ it can be added later.

When asked about concerns that customers have based on an experience of unreliability of parking equipment in general, Lacoste was adamant. “We are an immature industry. We don’t have the luxury of a Microsoft and a million customers constantly testing our products. So we must test, test, and test again. We have to have very strict rules. The specification must be well understood and after it’s approved by the customer, we have to ensure that all interfaces are clean so when it is installed, we can guarantee that it will work 100%.

“Cost is always a factor. Software is not easy to do. We need to have good and disciplined people and place a lot of emphasis on design. This costs a lot of money. Some customers are not mature. They think that it’s the same as going to a software store and buying “Windows” off the shelf. Bill Gates sells 10 million copies, we may sell 500.”

“Sometimes we have to compete with low cost software, developed in a garage, ignoring all state of the art rules.”

“We are all becoming software houses. As the cost of software goes up, the price of hardware goes down. We try to license only the features a customer is going to use, what they need. One license per application. This keeps the cost down to the end user.

“We have learned that a “closed” system cannot survive. An operator doesn’t want to be tied to one supplier. We must be flexible. The data must be transparent. It must be able to interface with open reporting system.

“Cashless? In most cases it is a decision that is already made. Many garages have ANPR/LPR, credit cards, pay by cell and the rest. A very small portion of the customers actually use cash. It often means only the change in a sign and the garage is cashless.

“This means that our business model will change, too. We must provide more credit card central stations. People will still pay at central. They don’t want to queue in their vehicles. By paying at central they can exit faster. It is better for them, and more environmentally sound. We have to react to their needs and provide the right equipment to handle central payment.

“We have seen consolidation in our industry. Zeag has merged with other companies, as have a number of other manufacturers. However, there are always newcomers. They try to provide less expensive systems, and always sell a few. But they tend to come and go. The big players will remain.”

The ZEAG Group is a global organization and providers of innovative solutions of parking revenue control systems. Now headquartered in Switzerland, ZEAG has grown to become one of the world’s largest specialists in parking equipment, with over 5,000 installations on 5 continents. For more details visit, www.zeag.com

The new Orion^XR Pay-on-Foot Parking Solutions

Having been established in 1993, Zeag were the first to introduce Pay-on-Foot Parking Solutions in South Africa in 1996. Since then we have pioneered new functionality on almost all fronts. The oldest fully operational Pay-on-Foot site in South Africa is in Hatfield, Pretoria and it is nearly 14 years old which is evidence of the quality and on-going support that Zeag has provided since the system was installed. The owners of Hatfield’s Zeag P900 parking system have continued to show confidence awarding a contract for the replacement of the P900 Parking system with Zeag Orion^XR Magnetic Stripe Pay-on-Foot Parking system.

Further installations that we will be undertaking in the next few months include Northcliff Corner, De Ville Shopping Centre, Randridge Mall and Durban Station, amongst others.

The Orion parking system is the predecessor to the Orion^XR and Zeag have a number of these systems in South Africa that are reaching 10 years of age, all of which are under maintenance contract. The Orion system is fully compatible with Orion^XR which makes extending your parking system and facility easy and convenient. The design build of both these products is modular which allows us to upgrade either system to the latest technology in coin and note validation as well as implement any improvements in other technologies released during the equipment’s lifetime. .  We have recently upgraded a number of Orion sites, saving the owners the capital outlay of having to replace the entire parking system, by extending the life of the old equipment and at the same time introducing new technology to their facility.

Firsts in the parking industry pioneered by Zeag

A number of firsts in the parking industry were pioneered by Zeag. These are;

1. Zeag South Africa maintains the largest Pay-on-Foot site in South Africa at OR Tambo International Airport and currently has equipment installed at all of ACSA's Pay-on-Foot sites.
2. Zeag South Africa were the first to install Pay-on-Foot systems in all Major Centres.
3. Zeag South Africa were the first to integrate Pay-on-Foot systems with Credit Card Payment at the Pay Station and to introduce Credit Card Payment at all lane entry and exit stations.
4. Zeag South Africa were the first to integrate Pay-on-Foot systems with digital interactive intercoms.
5. Zeag South Africa were the first to integrate Pay-on- Foot systems with Variable Message Signage.
6. Zeag South Africa were the first to implement Chip & Pin on Pay Stations for Debit Cards and Credit Cards.
7. Zeag South Africa were the first to fully integrate a Pay-on-Foot system with License Plate Recognition
8. Zeag South Africa has never lost an operational Pay-on-Foot system to another equipment supplier.
9. Zeag South Africa have, at some stage or another replaced all of our competitors' operational Pay-on-Foot equipment.
10. Zeag South Africa is the only “original” company still providing Pay-on-Foot equipment into the Southern African Market.