What we can do better
Although Q-Park strives to improve its performance in all areas of its operations, sometimes things may go wrong or the initiatives taken may not have the desired effect. This section summarises the most important aspects in 2022 that did not go as expected and which need to be looked at carefully in the future.
External verification
External verification increases the confidence stakeholders have in our accountability and has a disciplining effect on our internal organisation. But external verification also entails extra time and costs. In the past years we have worked hard to standardise the reporting process and the source and structure of data used for reporting so this can easily be checked for completeness and reliability.
The whole process of CSR information gathering is therefore already prepared for future external verification against the quality standards our stakeholders expect. Some definitions need to be sharpened and shared with those who provide data in our back office, ensuring data maturity over time.
Data validation
As previously stated, our back-office systems are an excellent source of relevant data, however, it may occur that data is incorrect or incomplete. For example:
Manual corrections had to be made on bicycle parking services and fleet numbers.
Over the coming years, we intend to select significant KPIs to be thoroughly cross-checked and where necessary, we will support this effort with a data registration and validation process.
Target setting
The last time we established and published future-oriented targets and our achievements towards reaching them was in 2017. We had set targets for multiple KPIs to be achieved by 2020. Yet, due to the acquisition of Q-Park in the same year, the need to focus on our transformation programme, centralising ICT operations in 2018, and the disposal of our Nordics business in 2019, CSR goal-setting for the medium term was pushed back.
By the close of 2022, the CSR Strategic Framework was signed off by management. The first of the four phases encompasses the double materiality matrix. The second of the four phases is ambition setting, based on the double materiality matrix, and to define purpose, vision and output KPIs. This means that we plan to define our mid- to long-term targets in 2023.