PRINCETON, N.J. -- For the seventh year in a row, InformationWeek recently named Heartland Payment Systems Inc., one of the nation's largest payments processors and a leading provider of merchant business solutions, one of the top technology innovators in the United States, ranking it this year at No. 106 on the 2013 InformationWeek 500.
Heartland's award represented recognition for its SmartLink managed network solution, it said. Initially designed to displace third-party vendors and ensure secure, reliable connectivity for transaction transport at merchant locations, Heartland's solution has enabled it to better serve merchant customers while realizing significant operational efficiencies and cumulative significant internal cost savings. Continuing SmartLink's development into a full-featured managed network service that delivers first-of-its-kind technology to securely transmit both transactional data as well as integral backoffice information, Heartland transformed this internal IT initiative into the company's fastest-growing organic line of business by helping merchants address the growing complexities of managing network connectivity.
"It is an honor to once again be named to the InformationWeek 500 and to be recognized for the pioneering advancements that are driving value for our enterprise and our merchant customers alike," said Bob Carr, Heartland's chairman and CEO. "Network connectivity is the technological crux of business today, and it will only become more crucial in the years ahead as organizations rely more heavily on web- and cloud-based services for payment processing as well as for a host of other functions ranging from marketing to food safety monitoring. For this reason, we are continuing to invest in the development of SmartLink as a business enabler that allows merchants to monitor and manage activity across their network and utilize that information to make critical business decisions."
SmartLink was first introduced for petroleum/convenience stores and is used today by leading petroleum marketers including CITGO and Martin Eagle Oil Co. to consolidate multiple in-store devices onto one high-speed broadband line and provide monitored communications for automatic tank gauges, in-store environmental control systems, back-office systems, digital signs, email and Internet.
In 2012, Heartland launched SmartLink into the restaurant vertical to provide restaurateurs industry-specific monitored network communication, including freezer temperature monitoring that provides HAACP reporting compliant with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act, voice over IP, backoffice systems, support for digital signs and menu boards, redundant connectivity and managed Wi-Fi Internet access.
InformationWeek identifies and honors the nation's most innovative users of information technology with its annual 500 listing, and also tracks the technology, strategies, investments and administrative practices of some of the best-known organizations in the country.
"The theme of this year's InformationWeek 500 is digital business. It's a movement, rooted in data analytics, mobile computing, social networking and other customer-focused technologies that are turning companies and industries on their ear," said InformationWeek editor-in-chief Rob Preston. "Every enterprise is now a digital business--or needs to become one fast. The organizations in our ranking are leading the way."
Additional details on the InformationWeek 500 can be found online at www.informationweek.com/iw500.
Heartland, the fifth largest payments processor in the United States, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, mobile commerce, eCommerce, marketing solutions, security technology, payroll solutions and related business solutions and services to more than 250,000 business and educational locations nationwide.
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