Fiserv (Carat)

Fiserv (which executed a massive acquisition of the legacy titan First Data) is an absolute colossus in global financial technology, literally serving as the underlying core banking infrastructure for thousands of global banks. Within the enterprise payment sector, Fiserv operates the "Carat" operating system, which is explicitly engineered to deliver massive, highly complex, omnichannel commerce solutions for the world's largest retail brands, quick-service restaurant (QSR) chains, and massive franchise networks. The absolute core differentiator of Fiserv is its unparalleled dominance in physical, brick-and-mortar retail and massive franchise management, driven by its ownership of the ubiquitous Clover Point-of-Sale (POS) ecosystem. If a massive global coffee chain wants a customer to be able to order a coffee on a mobile app, pay with a stored credit card, walk into the physical store, scan a loyalty barcode, and pick up the coffee—Fiserv orchestrates that entire highly complex physical-to-digital bridge flawlessly. Furthermore, Fiserv provides massive, highly complex payout and disbursement capabilities. If a massive gig-economy platform needs to push instant payouts to the debit cards of 100,000 drivers at the end of their shift, Fiserv provides the massive financial rail architecture to execute that instantly and reliably. For massive global franchises and enterprises where the digital app and the physical retail store must operate in absolute, flawless synchronization, Fiserv is unparalleled.