Hartford-based LAZ Parking is partnering with New York platform advisory and investment firm, Applico Inc. to develop proximity on-demand services — PODS — as part of an effort to remake the company into an innovative digital parking operator.Â
In March LAZ CEO Alan Lazowski told HBJ of his plans to adopt new technologies for things like hands-free parking, open entirely new business lines within his parking properties like parcel delivery and ghost kitchens, and deploy thousands of electric vehicle chargers across the country. LAZ already moved on the EV chargers with an initiative to place 500 Tesla chargers in garages around the country.
Over the next year or two, Applico will help facilitate partnerships between LAZ and other tech companies and startups and guide investment, according to LAZ. Some areas LAZ wants to experiment in are logistics, delivery and electric vehicle deployment.
“We see a huge opportunity for partnerships across the entire spectrum of technology and economy; players large and small,” Lazowski said.
Applico, a New York-based consulting firm, advises traditional companies on how to transition to a “platform business model,” which the Applico describes as a model in which a company facilitates exchanges between consumers and producers.
“Like Facebook, Uber, or Alibaba, these businesses don’t directly create and control inventory via a supply chain the way linear businesses do,” Applico explains on its website. “Platform businesses don’t, to use a common phrase, own the means of production— instead, they create the means of connection.”
