Networked mobility as an opportunity for the mobility revolution

Multimodal mobility is becoming increasingly complex. Without holistic software solutions, novel mobility services will not succeed, the transformation to electromobility will be intransparent and sustainability goals will be diluted.

The use of AZOWO cloud software solves these problems. AZOWO GmbH is a Swabian technology company that has been active on the market for eight years - with renowned customers and supported by an experienced team. AZOWO is the only platform in the world with its own fleet management software, integrated car and bike sharing solution and vehicle data in real time through direct connections to the most important vehicle manufacturers and service providers. On just one software platform, the diversity in vehicle fleets or newly created sharing businesses can be shared quickly and effectively with citizens and a holistic solution for multimodal mobility offers can be provided. Over 17 million euros were invested in research and in-house development of the cloud software alone, with the success of having created a unique booking algorithm for effective mobility management.

The AZOWO platform is interesting for municipalities, cities, large companies and larger medium-sized enterprises with a high need for innovation. The focus here is primarily on the topics of smart mobility and the digital transformation of fleet management. In this segment, AZOWO's customers include, for example, Stadtwerke Pfaffenhofen, EnBW, the mechanical engineering company Liebherr and Munich Airport. In essence, they are going through the same transformation process: Anyone who moves thousands of vehicles and employees every day, passes fuel cards and car keys back and forth manually, schedules people on buses, faces enormous challenges. A municipality or public utility that spends 100,000 euros on fuel or, in the case of electric vehicles, on electricity, wants to know how the vehicles are organised, where and at what price they are charged or refuelled. Many successful customers in Europe rely on the functionalities of the Enterprise Suite and the customer service of AZOWO. They use the opportunity to make sustainability tangible.

Stadtwerke Pfaffenhofen is a company of the city of Pfaffenhofen a. d. Ilm and a long-standing customer of AZOWO GmbH. The target group: citizens, guests and companies. The goal: the mobility turnaround and the creation of a holistic solution for comprehensive mobility offers and services.

Pfaffenhofen was given the go-ahead by the funding from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure after winning the "mobil gewinnt" award in 2017 and 2018. The cooperation between Stadtwerke Pfaffenhofen and AZOWO on the mobility project already started in 2019. The challenge for the Stadtwerke team, the introduction of a SaaS solution for their complex system of modern mobility and the launch of the sharing business field. The motivation: to help shape the mobility turnaround locally - in addition to existing problems in the organisation of environmentally sensitive traffic control.

"Through the agile cooperation with AZOWO GmbH, we can implement new mobility and sharing concepts quickly and sustainably. A big advantage is the deposit of price lists and price scales that can be charged to the rental customers in sharing. AZOWO gives us as municipal utilities the chance to share the diversity of our vehicle fleet with the citizens of Pfaffenhofen," says Simon Plass, mobility manager at the municipal utility Stadtwerke Pfaffenhofen a. d. Ilm.

Thus, the first public sharing programme and fleet management was tested with the citizens, introduced and is continuously improved in cooperation with AZOWO. Today, well over 1,200 users are registered in the municipality and the number of thousands of bookings doubles every year. This is a great development and a business model that is continuously being expanded with a lot of commitment.

The all-in-one AZOWO platform is used by the municipal utility as a multimodal booking and sharing platform for cars, bicycles, cargo bikes and e-scooters. For smooth operation and orientation towards more customer proximity, a sharing garage was built in the city centre (access via RFID). In the customer centre, which is within walking distance, there is personal support for queries and for additional ID and driving licence checks. The various vehicles can be unlocked and opened via the AZOWO app or RFID using a virtual key. A structured dashboard is used by trained staff to manage the organisation and EV fleet.

A citizen dialogue on mobility, a say in the selection of sharing locations through citizen participation, the actual realisation of sustainability goals and an AZOWO software application with maximum ease of use for users ensure the success of the concept. This combination of elements thus leads to sustainable behavioural changes and a new mobility culture.

The use of the 100% EU data protection-compliant cloud software also provides the opportunity to optimise processes and to identify and realise significant cost savings already in the inventory. Individual configurability can be flexibly implemented on a standardised platform in order to also take unique customer requirements into account. Over 120 modules and interfaces are integrated as required, so that the unique booking algorithm in the AZOWO software solution enables effective management of all vehicles. In this way, individual customer needs can be mapped very quickly and precisely via the modular structure of the software, without having to fall into development mode first - because this is one of AZOWO's unique selling points: The company offers a self-programmed complete solution. Customers get everything from a single source, they don't have to build their own technology stack and work with ten different providers.

They are ready to go after just a few days and can also organise their vehicle pool via live vehicle data. Is the window of a car open, should a service trip be booked or is there air missing in the tyres? Processes are decisively simplified, employees are relieved and utilisation efficiency is increased. Waste is avoided - with a clear focus on the needs of citizens.

EV and sustainability - two buzzwords. The transformation towards electromobility is underway and a switch to alternative drives is imperative for the mobility turnaround. By controlling electric fleets via the AZOWO cloud platform, the changeover succeeds and already in the run-up, the company provides support in evaluating data volumes for the important decisions. Of course, CO2 consumption can also be tracked in the dashboard.

Modern mobility is a major challenge for all municipalities and companies, for decision-makers and users. A rethink for more efficiency, transparency and sustainability is required. The widespread introduction of Smart Mobility has so far been hampered by the fact that vehicle data could only be exchanged insufficiently between the individual providers of mobility systems. AZOWO offers a platform for this with a unique AI booking algorithm for intelligent resource allocation.

The intelligent software can optimise the entire value chain of multimodal mobility applications and establish new business areas. Municipalities achieve significant cost savings and reach their sustainability goals at the same time. For employees, customers and partners, added value is created through greater flexibility and transparency. To support the mobility turnaround, municipalities can automate their processes, documents and reports and organise them via the intuitive AZOWO software - time-efficient, resource-intelligent and cost-oriented.

AZOWO can set up a mobility system for any company or public organisation at any location worldwide, including the integration of all elements such as payment providers, billing or identity verification - within a few days.