Connecting dots
Connecting dots
"Parcandi makes parking more flexible," explains Corsin Sulser. The 44-year-old is the founder of the startup and initiator of the business idea that emerged in 2019. "Cities have many unused spaces in parking garages. Car owners, on the other hand spend hours looking for parking lots. We provide the solution to both problems."
"And we are one of the beneficiaries," says Jens Maack, Head of Facility Management Baloise Germany (photo). "Our employees benefit from Parcandi. In what way? Previously, our 350 parking spaces in Bad Homburg and Hamburg could only be rented on a permanent basis. Hence, we dealt with long waiting lists, while long-term parkers did not use their spaces regularly. This effect has been exacerbated by Covid, making people work from home. So today we’re happy to design our contingent of parking lots more efficiently - in real time - depending on demand."
«Our employees in Germany benefit from Parcandi. Today we’re happy to design our contingent of parking lots more efficiently - in real time - depending on demand.»
"Asset management of Baloise provides another use case," says Jan Wenger, Innovation Manager in the Real Estate division (photo). "The goal was to utilize the parking spaces in our building portfolio more intensively: after 6 p.m., for example, office buildings are empty, dead capital. Since we started working with Parcandi, we make better use of the spaces, while external customers are happy about more flexibility and simplicity. They save time and money."
Both Parcandi use cases show how the mobility ecosystem of Baloise works. It's about strategically combining forces and ideas, and connecting the dots for the benefit of many. "Since launch, Parcandi has generated CHF 450,000," says Corsin. "Today we operate in 32 locations in Germany and Switzerland."
"Collaborating with many players in an ecosystem is incredibly inspiring," Corsin points out. "In a pilot phase, we had Parcandi tested by employees in Germany and received unfiltered feedback on a weekly basis. This allowed us to move forward with our project - closely connected to the customer, in a targeted way." "What they wanted, for example, was easy access to the parking garage. This without the need to start the whole parking process via the Parcandi app right in front of the barrier," Jens recalls. "The solution today is a license plate scanner. Since it's been unlocked, Parcandi has 700 new customers and 200-300 bookings every day." "And by the way, fewer calls to customer service, too," Corsin laughs winkingly.
«Since we started working with Parcandi, we have made better use of the space. External customers are happy about more flexibility and simplicity whilst parking.»
"It’s such a good thing," Corsin continues, "that Baloise has our back. We are a young company and might draw on an incredible amount of expertise. When we entered the german market, for example, a different insurance law applied. Finding advice from colleagues in the legal department was very helpful. Our thanks also go to Baloise Asset Management, which contributed its expertise in real estate. All this shortens processes and coordination loops a lot."
"In the end," adds Jan, "many parties benefit in an ecosystem: we solved the vacancy problem in our building portfolio in Switzerland, Parcandi gains new customers, in Germany more Baloise employees sustainably find a parking space close to their offices", "and for us, parking space management is no longer necessary," confirms Jens. "This ultimately creates free space for other tasks."