“The platform’s checklists provide a very good overview of our status quo. It also provides access to the requisite documents, including our website’s privacy policy, our TOMs, RPAs, or commissioned data processing agreements (DPAs), which is extremely convenient.”
Heiko Jäger
Co-Founder
Parconomy develops digital tools for the management and networking of stationary traffic. The centrepiece of the business model is an open roaming platform for parking space management: the Open Parking System. This is aimed at municipalities, car park operators and mobility service providers who want to make parking spaces digitally accessible and billable as part of Smart City concepts. The start-up was set up as a spin-off from the energy supplier EnBW.
Location
Germany
Company size
Small & medium business
Industry
Tech
Product
Compliance
Our cities need to be smarter: more efficient and technologically advanced, greener and, above all, more environmentally friendly. These new urban spaces, Smart Cities, need innovative mobility concepts to make them a reality. Parconomy’s Open Parking System provides experts with tools for digitization and networking in order to implement these mobility concepts.
The idea dates back to an EnBW initiative aimed at finding new business models for parking in 2018. The EnBW team developed an open, digital roaming platform for the parking market in Germany and Europe: the Open Parking System (OPS). In addition, car park operators, especially municipalities, can digitize access to parking spaces for users, offer non-cash billing options and connect other mobility services such as public transport, for example. Private sector players such as automobile manufacturers can also network their products with the OPS and take advantage of new business opportunities.
This innovative idea led to the setup of Parconomy GmbH, a Stuttgart-based spin-off of the EnBW Group. “Our product has been on the market since the end of 2020,” says Mr Heiko Jäger, Co-Founder and one of three Managing Directors. It was clear from the outset that data privacy would be essential for success.
“As a young company offering a unique new product, we face two major business risks. One, we don't bring in enough customers. Two, we fail due to data privacy gaps.”
In the event of a data breach, the biggest problem would be the loss of reputation, rather than the fines (which can be up to four percent of annual turnover.) “Our platform allows our customers to manage large volumes of sensitive personal data – names, home addresses, car registration numbers, bank account details, etc. Data privacy issues or breaches of the GDPR would destroy the trust of our direct customers and end users of our platform – and thus the foundations of our business,” says Mr Jäger.
Shortly after Parconomy was founded, the company started looking for a professional partner to fill the role of an external data protection officer, finally opting for DataGuard. “We weren't looking for the cheapest provider, but rather the one who would offer the most compelling overall service package, take great care of our data privacy needs, the most efficient in terms of time. After all, time is money. DataGuard offered all of that at a competitive price.”
Collaboration was lean and efficient from the outset. As Parconomy operated under the umbrella of EnBW until the spin-off, they were already well-positioned in terms of their privacy processes. The data privacy audit with DataGuard lasted just 10 days. “We only had to adapt our processes slightly following the audit. We also received a lot of impetus from DataGuard in matters that were new to us, such as compliant applicant management,” said Mr Jäger.
Efforts were initially focused on the Technical and Organisational Measures (TOMs) and the Records of Processing Activities (RPAs), which were then directly incorporated into the company's contracts with customers. “It was very important for us to have DataGuard thoroughly re-examine what we were doing to secure ourselves technically and to prevent data privacy incidents to the greatest extent possible.”
"Parconomy’s solution is aimed mainly at parking garage operators and mobility providers—both municipal and commercial. Data privacy is a top priority for these groups—and that’s a good thing. Even better, we can meet all their requirements efficiently with DataGuard’s help."
DataGuard’s platform has been particularly helpful for both the audit and efficient collaboration. “The platform’s checklists provide a very good overview of our status quo. It also provides access to the requisite documents, including our website’s privacy policy, our TOMs, RPAs, or commissioned data processing agreements (DPAs), which is extremely convenient.”
Parconomy has proven that top-notch data protection ensures road safety and helps attract new customers. When still a part of EnBW, they began a collaboration with a Baden-Württemberg state organisation. After their successful spin-off, they wanted to renew the contract with this major customer.
“This meant that our company’s TOMs, RPAs, and our entire data privacy architecture, to a certain extent, would be scrutinised by the state data protection officer of Baden-Württemberg. There was no room for error. Supported by DataGuard, we had total confidence going into the process. Our great collaboration paid off - we successfully extended the contract.”
“The collaboration with DataGuard is highly cooperative, from daily queries through to last minute and sometimes unconventional help with specific inquiries. In a nutshell: We are extremely satisfied and look forward to having DataGuard as our partner in the future.”
Parconomy is now establishing itself as a future partner for the digitization and networking of stationary traffic. Naturally, their employee count is growing. “As our team grew, we began to see more benefits from DataGuard that we hadn't considered at the beginning of our collaboration.”
This is especially true for DataGuard Academy, which offers online training courses for employees. The new members of the Parconomy team are provided with a data privacy training and certified by DataGuard. “DataGuard Academy is structured in such a way that it communicates all the important information to our new employees,” says Mr Jäger. “It's great, it's fun and it takes a lot of work off our shoulders – even with follow-up training.”
As a company offering exclusively cloud-based products, information security also plays a key role for Parconomy. After a positive experience during the data privacy audit, the company is toying with the idea of tackling the topic of information security with DataGuard and, if necessary, being certified in accordance with ISO 27001 or TISAX®. They are already in a good place, as impeccable data privacy is a prerequisite for such certifications. “DataGuard’s overall approach has shown us that by working together we could save a lot of time and have clear, meticulously documented processes and measures. That's what matters.”
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