Chargifi, Belkin Expand Grab for Wireless Charging Enterprise Market

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW — Chargifi and Belkin International are integrating their wireless charging technology and setting their sights on the enterprise market, Chargifi announced Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Belkin’s Boost Up Wireless Charging Spot, introduced last year for a surface installation and recessed installation, will integrate with Chargifi’s cloud management platform, which monitors, manages a network of charging transmitters and offers analytics on customer behavior.

Ingram Micro’s Eric Hembree

“We see a fantastic opportunity for partners with Chargifi, not just in the hospitality and entertainment space, but in the smart office area when looking to set up conference rooms and break rooms,” Eric Hembree, director of IoT at Ingram Micro, told Channel Futures.

Chargifi signed on with Ingram Micro last year, and Belkin is also on the distributor’s line card.

Chargifi’s smart technology enables two-way communication between Belkin’s wireless charging hardware and the Chargifi cloud management platform, providing dashboards with analytics that give actionable insights on customer behavior, as well as diagnostics on the health of the charging spots on the network.

There’s Chargifi Manage, Chargifi SmartSpot and Chargifi Connect. Chargifi Manage is a state-of-the-art IoT management platform and the heart of the wireless charging as a service provided by partners. Chargifi Connect enables businesses to blend behavioral data, such as hyper-location and dwell time, with existing apps and software. Chargifi SmartSpot comes with Chargifi Analyze, part of the Chargifi Cloud platform.

The integrated Chargifi-Belkin technology transforms wireless charging into a service for businesses, providing an amenity for customers and offering a touchpoint to engage and enhance end-user experience for customers, employees and guests.

Wireless charging is popular among consumers and is poised to influence expectations for employees in the workplace, as well as retail, sports stadiums and so on.

“Smart wireless charging is doing for power what Wi-Fi did for connectivity, and soon wireless charging will be as ubiquitous as Wi-Fi. We have joined forces with [Belkin] to give businesses the best opportunity to deploy effectively at scale, while monetizing a service that is much in demand. We are taking wireless charging to the next level, using it as a trigger point that enhances the customer experience — adding real value to business,” said Dan Bladen, CEO and co-founder of Chargifi.

Belkin, known best for wireless charging hardware in the consumer space, views its partnership with Chargifi as taking its business to the next level.

“Wireless charging is going to be the new expectation for convenience, because once you try wireless charging, it’s really the only way that you want to change your wireless phone,” said Jack Blanche, product manager at Belkin. “It’s going to be the new norm in the B2B space, and it will be an enormous opportunity for businesses.”

The global wireless charging market is projected to reach $71.2 million by 2025, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.7 percent from 2018 to 2025. The market was valued at $5.2 million in 2017, according to Allied Analytics.

Wireless charging is great, but that’s just plain vanilla — think IoT.

Chargifi Connect already has created opportunities for SmartSpots to act as a trigger for …

… other integrated IoT services.

“If you look at the smart office, you can take your phone, go into a conference room that has the Chargifi wireless charging station, and they have an integration with Zoom meeting. You put your phone down and it automatically starts your Zoom meeting in that conference room — it opens the conference bridge, the video [and so on], said Hembree.

Customized for an airport lounge for business customers, you put your phone down on a SmartSpot wireless charger, and it automatically sends a menu to your phone where you can place an order.

For MSPs, there’s an opportunity to implement the wireless charging service, but also offer the ongoing support and reporting around the data-analytics platform, and installing the product, said Hembree.

“IoT is pretty intimidating and MSPs are trying to figure out what their play is. Chargifi is a good way to get started.”

The availability of the integrated solution is scheduled for sometime in the second quarter.