About Clover
Clover, a Fiserv company and global leader in payment processing solutions, is revolutionizing the way businesses manage transactions and access critical insights. Renowned for its robust platform that serves merchants across the globe, Clover has established itself as a key enabler of business growth in an increasingly digital and competitive economy. Clover is more than a payment processing provider, it’s a comprehensive platform designed to help businesses of all sizes grow and succeed. From brick-and-mortar shops to online stores, Clover offers merchants a secure and flexible way to accept payments, manage operations, and engage with customers.
Challenge
Clover faced a significant challenge in managing its complex and fragmented data infrastructure. It had more than 12 years of historical data spread across 23 MySQL databases, each containing 16 schemas, resulting in thousands of tables feeding into Clover’s Snowflake data warehouse. This sprawling environment created an operational headache, requiring extensive developer resources to maintain pipelines and custom scripts to manage data integration.
The lack of automation compounded the problem. Every schema evolution or DDL (Data Definition Language) change required manual intervention, introducing delays and increasing the risk of errors. These inefficiencies not only consumed time and resources but also limited Clover’s ability to scale and meet the growing demands of its business.
As Clover expanded its global reach, the fragmented data infrastructure became a significant bottleneck. The company struggled to provide real-time insights, which were critical for merchants relying on actionable data to optimize their operations. Without a centralized and scalable system, maintaining data accuracy, minimizing latency, and enabling proactive decision-making became increasingly difficult.
The challenge wasn’t just technical; it was also strategic. To remain competitive in the fast-paced payment processing industry, Clover needed a solution that could streamline data ingestion, automate schema management, and deliver near-instant analytics. The stakes were high: merchants depended on Clover to provide the insights they needed to adapt to shifting market conditions and enhance customer experiences.
Striim’s solution has been a game-changer for us. Their team has been incredibly responsive, providing support that has been crucial in managing the complexity of our data environment.
VINAYAK KAGALKAR
SVP and Head of Engineering | Clover
Solution
Clover embarked on an in-depth evaluation to identify a solution that could address its operational pain points and support future scalability. The process included a rigorous proof-of-concept (POC) phase, during which Clover assessed multiple platforms to determine their capabilities in real time data streaming, scalability, and schema management.
Striim provided Clover with several transformative benefits:
- Simplified Data Infrastructure: Striim consolidated Clover’s fragmented infrastructure by streaming data from 23 MySQL databases into Snowflake, including both transactional updates and schema changes previously handled manually through custom scripts. Automating this process reduced operational complexity and freed developers to focus on higher-value tasks.
- Scalable Architecture for Global Growth: Clover transitioned from a handful of pipelines to an 8-node cluster capable of handling high transaction volumes. Each node hosted 10–15 applications, scaling to over 140 applications and thousands of tables. This infrastructure met current demands and ensured scalability as the business grew.
- Automated Schema Evolution: One of Clover’s most pressing challenges was managing schema changes. Striim’s advanced DDL management automatically propagated changes from MySQL to Snowflake, ensuring data consistency without disrupting analytics. This eliminated delays and risks, providing teams with uninterrupted access to timely, accurate data.
- Future-Proof Integration Capabilities: While Clover initially aimed to unify MySQL pipelines, Striim’s flexibility enabled integration of additional sources such as MongoDB and Vitess, demonstrating adaptability and a future-proof design. This positioned Clover to explore new data-driven opportunities and enhance its analytics ecosystem.
- Accelerated Time to Value: Striim’s team worked closely with Clover to fine-tune configurations, deploy applications seamlessly, and provide technical guidance. This hands-on support accelerated deployment and ensured Clover’s infrastructure was fully optimized for high-volume workloads.
The Outcome
- Streamlined Payment Workflows
Striim’s robust platform now handles millions of daily transactions across the globe. Unified pipelines ensure consistent speed and reliability, minimizing downtime and enhancing the payment experience for Clover’s merchants. Real-Time Decision-Making
Access to near-instant data in Snowflake has transformed business intelligence at Clover. Teams can quickly identify customer trends, track performance, and respond to market demands—fostering a proactive, data-driven culture across sales, marketing, and operations.- Merchant Empowerment
Clover’s merchants now have real-time visibility to optimize inventory, streamline operations, and improve service delivery. With accurate, up-to-date insights, they can adapt to shifting consumer preferences and grow with confidence. - Improved Resource Management
Striim’s automation has eliminated manual pipeline and schema maintenance, freeing Clover’s developers to focus on strategic initiatives. Teams now spend less time troubleshooting and more time innovating. - New Business Opportunities
With improved data accessibility, Clover can onboard customers faster, segment markets more effectively, and analyze previously inaccessible datasets—fueling revenue growth and maintaining competitive edge.
With Striim, we can now provide real-time insights into sales and profitability to our customers, allowing them to make immediate, informed decisions that enhance their businesses. It has also allowed us to focus on strategic initiatives rather than the time-consuming task of managing complex data integrations.
VINAYAK KAGALKAR
SVP and Head of Engineering | Clover
