By Susan Elise Campbell
SCI has relocated to a 22,000-square-foot building at One Broad Street in Glens Falls, the first major move in the company’s 25-year history, according to Peter Fidopiastis, president and general counsel.
Over the years the company has resided at Bay Street, the B.B. Fowler Co. Building, the Cayman Building and several other smaller offices in the city, he said.
“The move is driven by internal growth,” said Fideopiastis.
SCI serves the logistic industry as a third party administrator and payroll processor for trucking companies and couriers and their independent contractors, a field that “is growing with the rise of online shopping,” he said.
“When a company takes on additional business, it can broker out for independent delivery personnel rather than hire new employees,” said Fidopiastis. “We are like an automated payroll service with a focus strictly on independent contractors.”
These are companies that have “always been independent,” he said.
“It would be a shame to lose the entrepreneurial ability to start small and grow, because there will always be a need to make that last stop in the delivery process,” said Fideopiastis. “Independents can resolve those last-minute scheduling issues.It is better for the economy, the company and the environment to use a third party rather than hire permanent staff,” he said.
SCI markets “a suite of software, service and technology to grow a delivery business in the gig economy,” he said. “Our platform is flexible, full-service and user-friendly.”
But a noted downside of the gig economy is that independents are not normally given employee benefits that full-timers pursuing a more traditional career path typically have, such as health care and other insurances. According to Fidopiastis, SCI provides a way to fill that gap.
“We are unique in using our buying power and our client base to offer these kinds of benefits rather than companies getting them on their own,” he said. “Premiums are remitted quickly and accurately through our software system, and at discount.”
“Anyone that receives a payment processed through SCI can join with others” to further increase SCI’s power to negotiate programs and rates, he said.
SCI has a long-term lease for the new location and the owner “built to suit from the inside-out,” said Fidopiastis.
“We have a lot of space but don’t plan to sublet,” he said. “We have learned through the COVID pandemic that people enjoy the security of having their own space and having our employees feel comfortable is very important to SCI.”
Fidopiastis said SCI is “always looking to add to the team” and that the company could use “five or six new employees right now.”
More information is available at www.sciadmin.com.