From Parking to Blockchain with ParkinGO

Over the last 24 years Giuliano Rovelli, CEO and founder of ParkinGO, has curated a company specializing in parking and mobility. The operation of airport car parks is the core business of ParkinGO, which today has more than 80 facilities in nine European countries and utilizes a franchise model to better structure the company network.

ParkinGO is constantly developing, and offerings range from a safe harbour where you can leave your car to a service HUB available to all customers. At the core of the business model are the employees and Rovelli has ensured provision of a human-sized working environment, where employees can feel well and are able to give their best. Thanks to technology, including blockchain, ParkinGO introduce numerous useful innovations, where the focus on the customers’ needs remains a high priority.

The original idea when ParkinGO was founded was to operate simple parking spaces near airports. However, the facilities have since evolved to become real mobility platforms, where you can park your car, recharge electric vehicles, or even have your package delivered to the Amazon Lockers, which can be found at main ParkinGO network stations. In addition, upon landing you can find the commodity of a car rental, or car sharing made available by individuals through our peer2peer getmycar.com platform

In 2017, Rovelli had the idea of tapping into blockchain as an innovation to traditional business processes. This idea was suggested by an Italian friend living in Silicon Valley who posed the question: "Have you started studying how to integrate the blockchain in the corporate roadmap?" This led to some study on the part of Rovelli and his team to get a greater understanding of what other areas blockchain technology could apply to aside from cryptocurrency.

GOToken is a ‘utility token’ offered by ParkinGO that runs on the Ethereum blockchain and allows for purchasing of a service, in this case, parking. As GOToken can be used for both charging and payment, this is one of the most innovative payment methods and experiments in addition to the classic payment gateways offered by ParkinGO.

GOTnet is ParkinGO’s own private blockchain development, which aims to move certain business processes into blockchain. This includes customer feedback on services. It allows ParkinGO to continuously monitor the quality of services offered at every parking facility. The customer comments are linked to rewards for employees within the network, with those who receive positive comments being rewarded in GOToken.

The entire process is managed in a decentralized way from the GOTnet blockchain and it is expected that blockchain will simplify businesses processes to give transparency in provision of customer service. Less bureaucracy, lower costs, more transparency with customers all equal better results for the company. Rovelli comments, “The blockchain is a decentralized register that cannot be corrupted, modified or even deleted. In the future it could be utilised for the change of ownership of vehicles, ownership of property or even certify the identity of people in a more secure manner than it is nowadays”. The figures speak for themselves with turnover doubling within the last three years. In 2016 the turnover was 10 million euros and at the close of the year in 2018 turnover was approximately 20 million euros.

About ParkinGO

ParkinGO Group is a service company focused on mobility with 80 active car parks in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Portugal. Nowadays a leader in the off-airport car park market.

ParkinGO was founded in June 1995 to satisfy the growing demand for parking space near Milan Malpensa airport, and soon became the first car park network servicing everyone who wishes to drive to the airport using their own car.

For more information go to www.parkingo.com