Case Study: City of Langenfeld achieves smarter city-center shopping and higher foot traffic with Microsoft Corporation's Azure

Small city empowers local shops through IoT insights housed in the cloud

City of Langenfeld needed a way to help local shops in its city center compete with nearby larger cities and online shopping, while also making parking more convenient for residents and visitors. Working with Microsoft Corporation and using Azure through the City-Key initiative, the city set out to reduce barriers to downtown shopping and create a foundation for smarter city services.

Microsoft Corporation’s Azure-based solution powered an IoT parking system and data platform that linked parking credits to purchases at participating stores. The results included 4,000 enrolled customers, 38 participating merchants, and a 20% or more increase in foot traffic in the city center, while also enabling future personalized offers and smart city analytics.

City of Langenfeld

Jan Christoph Zimmermann

City Manager