Corporate and business strategies have evolved more than ever over the last couple of years, and not just because of the pandemic. Technological advances and environmental pressures are pushing companies to be more creative about innovation and efficiency to remain competitive. 
In June 2022, the Harvard Business Review noted, “A corporate strategy must now create credibility, social contribution, and generate advantage by dealing creatively with new social and ecological constraints, as well as deliver on the traditional variables.” 1
Part of this effort includes keeping up with the needs of power for the thousands of electrical and connected IoT devices. Corporate leaders are asking:
- How is it possible to stay flexible while being tethered to miles of wires and outlets throughout our buildings?
- How can we provide reliable and sustainable power to IoT and increase the longevity of these devices?
- How can we decrease the weight and size of our products and our reliance on batteries altogether, thereby minimizing our environmental footprint while still innovating?
The answer starts with the adoption of wireless power delivered at a distance over air. Wireless power does not require more outlets, more charging surfaces, or more batteries. Instead, long range wireless power, like Cota, which uses transmitters and non-line of sight technology provides design and operational flexibility that no other traditional or alternative power source does.
But does it belong in your 5-year business plan? Companies all over the world have different approaches to business-strategy-making, but if one thing remains the same, it’s the ability to recognize a rapidly evolving future and understand your changing company and customer needs.
Here are seven signs that your business should include wireless power in its planning:
- Inventory control remains a challenge.
- Labor efficiency is a constant struggle.
- New construction is on the books.
- You have a heavy battery and battery management dependency.
- IoT expansion and connected business is a core component of success.
- New business relies on hospitality and travel innovation.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it can help illustrate why the businesses we know so well will begin to adopt and benefit from wireless power technology. Let’s take a closer look at each one:
Wireless power helps advance inventory control
Inventory control has many different facets. Logistics, location, environmental control, predicting demand, and understanding loss are just a few.
Today, inventory management involves a lot of labor. People are required to move, manage, locate, protect, and source the inventory. Using technology to help with this management has traditionally been limited, due to the energy demands the technology requires.
With wireless power and wirelessly powered sensors, products can be more closely monitored. Wireless power does not have the energy, size, or environmental cost limitations of batteries.
With Cota® Wireless Power you can track every truck and item, from location to temperature, online from a remote location. Cota® enables this.
Wireless power enhances labor and operational efficiency
Your employees have a lot of important responsibilities; changing batteries is not one that you want to be paying extra for. A low-battery-power device can slow down a worker and cost a company thousands of hours. A device that needs a battery replaced interrupts the important work, and it also requires new battery sourcing and old battery recycling.
No batteries required means “always on.” Your workers do not need to watch for low battery warnings or become annoyed by the low-power-beep warning. Devices will always be powered up and ready to be put to work, and workers can stay focused on core responsibilities.
If your employees currently rely on batteries to do their jobs, as in this healthcare example, switching to wireless power will improve labor and operational efficiency.
Wireless power decreases costs in new construction
With any new construction project comes the task of predicting where outlets and switches will be needed most, not only in the first year but in years to come. Then comes the miles of wiring, using precious environmental resources, and the labor involved in wiring the building safely.
With Cota® Wireless Power, new wiring needs are drastically reduced. Electrical devices can be wirelessly powered by a central transmitter, located discreetly in ceiling tiles, countertops, or other building materials.
Soon, most portable devices will have wireless power receivers; consider not only smartphones and tablets, but also earphones and hearing aids, hand-held scanners, locks and cameras, thermostats, IoT sensors, and inventory control devices. None will need to be plugged in to charge when the building is wireless-power-enabled.
The power revolution is coming to construction. “Smart technology investments can help buildings perform better, increase profitability, and save up to 15% in annual energy costs.” 2
Wireless power decreases battery dependency
Battery dependency is a big problem that has become so common that most people just accept it as part of life. But for companies that develop products and IoT that rely on batteries, the struggle is every day. Battery size, cost, weight, and lifespan factor into every decision they make about new products and product features.
Real Wireless Power enables products to be developed lighter in weight and with a longer expected lifespan, which reduces waste. Sustaintalytics, a highly respected and independent research firm recently released a report that analyzed Cota’s sustainability. It concluded: “Ossia will enable waste avoidance and associated emissions avoidance for industrial and retail end-users of the technology.”
Wireless power enables rapid IoT expansion
The number of connected devices for home and work that is being developed and sold right now is staggering. From washing machines to automobiles to factory lines, equipment is getting an infusion of “smart” that not only enables people to manage their devices from afar but is also allowing products to speak to and learn from each other. This means that each appliance, each device, requires a multitude of sensors that need power.
Electricity and batteries have been the norm, but the sheer quantity of sensors and potential for sensors is rapidly outgrowing these power supplies. Wireless power is the only way to sustain IoT’s current growth trajectory. “The IoT market is expected to register a CAGR of 10.53% during the forecast period (2022-2027).” 3
Wireless power streamlines hospitality and travel
Battery insecurity is a real thing among travelers. Low battery power always seems to happen at the worst possible moment. Where will they charge, how long will it take, will they have the privacy they need to continue working with their devices?
Portable battery chargers can help, but they are still heavy, need to be remembered, and must be charged up themselves, either through solar or via a convenient outlet.
A wirelessly powered world relieves the anxieties of power depletion. Whether people are in an airport, conference center, hotel lobby, train, airplane, ride-share, or in their own car, wireless power provides the energy that portable devices need so they are always topped up.
Wireless power as a service will become as common as wi-fi is today, in many of the same locations.
Building a Real Wireless Power strategy
The Harvard Business Review noted six factors that are driving changes in corporate business strategy today, including dynamism, contingency, and connectedness. If you consider wireless power as an integral part of the implementation of your strategy, opportunities begin to shine through in more obvious ways.
What are your strategic goals? How can Cota ® Wireless Power help solve problems and achieve milestones that traditional methods have failed to achieve? Once you have some initial ideas in place, start the conversation with partners and colleagues, and schedule a call with Ossia to better understand the technology, licensing opportunities, and even potentially get connected with others who are forward thinkers like you. We look forward to welcoming you to the wireless power ecosystem that is changing the way we power up.
1 https://hbr.org/2022/06/6-factors-driving-changes-to-todays-corporate-strategies
