First Data Adds Small-Business Tools to Clover Station

First Data has introduced new services for small to medium-sized businesses that work with its Clover Station tablet-based point of sale hardware.

The new services available to Clover Station users are Merchant Analytics, which offers insight and recommendations based on customer spending and overall business performance; TransArmor, which handles data security and includes a $100,000 liability waiver for business protection; and Perka, a cloud-hosted mobile loyalty marketing program.

“This is just the beginning of First Data’s ability to provide everything a small business needs to accept payments and run their business more efficiently," says Guy Chiarello, president of First Data, in an April 9 press release. First Data hired Chiarello, a former JPMorgan Chase CIO, last year.

Clover Station uses cloud-based software to handle inventory, revenue-tracking and generate reports the company explained in a press release. In addition merchants can obtain apps through the Clover App Market. First Data and Clover Network, a subsidiary of First Data that operates autonomously of its parent company, collaborated to develop Clover Station.

First Data bought Perka last year for an undisclosed sum. Later this year, Perka will support "presence-detecting technology" for marketing, First Data says.