From parking app to all-round mobility solution: Parkl drives sustainability with Azure

Parkl is a mobility solution, enabling its more than 100,000 app users in Hungary to quickly locate and pay for both off- and on-street parking, EV chargers, or even bike lockers. By helping customers find quick solutions to their mobility needs, Parkl is encouraging greener mobility and reducing the carbon footprint of drivers.

The company first started out as a parking app, but faced problems with expansion. “We relied on Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) to communicate with our different IoT devices but had some stability and management issues,” explains Andor Toth, Lead Software Developer at Parkl. “It became obvious we needed a modern cloud architecture that was suitable both for startups and corporate projects. Azure was best suited for that.”

As a Microsoft ISV (independent software vendor) partner, Parkl could also leverage the tailored resources, guidance, and support from the Microsoft team. It offered Parkl better opportunities to expand its business to more corporate clients as well. “If you are an ISV, your customers will most likely be corporate entities,” says Toth. “And if you want to enter the corporate territory, Azure offers the tools you’ll need.”

Scaling up on efficiency

To kickstart its digital change, Parkl joined the Microsoft for Startups program, receiving Azure credits, technical support, and mentoring from the Microsoft team. The company sought a shift to the cloud to improve its workflow. “At the start, we had a hybrid system—we used Microsoft as well as other software with self-developed protocols. But we soon realized that Azure offered us all the functions we needed,” says Zsolt Somogyi, Founder and CEO of Parkl.

The company started to use IoT Hub to establish network connections and protocols that connected with its various IoT devices. “It's made it possible for us to grow from 30 devices to more than 300. We can also update more than 100 devices through the solution, making maintenance so much easier,” adds Somogyi.

With the improved offering, Parkl has seen an increase in the usage of its services. “The number of transactions has increased by 20 times,” says Toth proudly. “We no longer have any stability or performance issues. Even during rush hours, we are always ready to serve our customers.”

The whole parking experience, from opening the barriers, to payment, has also been made easier for drivers in office buildings, shopping malls, and various public locations. Parkl makes use of the new IoT infrastructure to connect to license plate recognition cameras. “The barrier opens when cars enter and charges the payment automatically when they exit. Everything is contactless,” explains Toth. “Over two years, we’ve seen a huge rise in registered plates from 2,000 to 70,000.”

A sustainable way to travel

Parkl also helped lower the carbon footprint of those travelling in the city. "We’ve optimized parking capacities by enabling users to locate and reach them quicker. It saves them from having to drive around the block, or to exchange paper-based parking tickets, which saved nearly half a ton of unnecessary paper waste,” says Nikolett Kiss, Marketing Manager at Parkl.

Providing greater access to electric vehicle (EV) mobility has also helped set the stage for a greener city. “We didn’t have to build new technology to make this happen. We focused on managing data better, and now we help people get easier access to public parking spaces, EV charging stations, office parking lots, or even smart bike lockers,” explains Somogyi.

Moving forward, the team is determined to double its users in 2 years, establish a presence in at least two countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and set smart city initiatives into motion. “Now that we have a reliable architecture, we are able to focus more on the product and offer more services to our customers,” adds Toth.