— Finger Lakes Technologies Group, Inc. (FLTG) conducted a two-day sales blitz Oct. 7-8 to introduce the Greater Binghamton region to the company. 

FLTG recently built 200 miles of fiber-optic cable connecting area communities such as Binghamton, Endicott, Vestal, and Endwell to its already existing 1,800 miles of cable connecting 25 communities in Central New York, Rochester, the Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier (including Sayre, Pa.). The network is constructed in rings to ensure redundancy. The company has also located a point-of-presence (PoP) connecting the network on the Huron Campus in Endicott.

FLTG, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ontario and Trumansburg Telephone Companies (OTTC), was incorporated in 1995 to offer deregulated products and services, including dial-up Internet service. In 1999, FLTG became a Cisco “premier partner.” Today, the company’s product offerings include fiber-optic Internet service, IP and hosted phone systems, and data-center services. 

The company is getting ready to open an office and hire people in Endicott to set the stage for long-term growth in the area.

“We are now moving ahead to co-locate a sales and technical-resources office here in the same location as the PoP,” says Philip H. Yawman, FLTG’s senior vice president for business development. “Our staff is interviewing personnel now in anticipation of opening the office by Dec. 1. The plan is to start with five people and expand to 10 as we generate sales. I anticipate that this office will become a regional center, because of the size and the potential of the area.”

FLTG is following a Sam Walton approach to expansion, avoiding the larger cities where most of the competition is concentrating its marketing efforts. “Our strategy is to move geographically to the south and east,” says Yawman. “Company research identified 6,000 businesses in the [Greater] Binghamton area as potential customers. FLTG has already invested millions of dollars here in fiber infrastructure before we can make a sale. (Each new mile of fiber costs $35,000 to build.) … 

We are fully committed to this area. The longer-term plan is to continue building out the fiber-optic network, which is already the largest privately owned fiber network in New York state, into Eastern Pennsylvania.”

The consolidated companies’ rate of growth has accelerated in the last decade. In 2005, OTTC and FLTG had 40 employees. Today they employ 125, before any Endicott hires. The fiber-optic network has doubled in just one year from 1,000 to 2,000 miles. According to Inc. magazine in 2013, FLTG had expanded its three-year sales growth 70 percent (to $23.1 million in 2013) — this in a stagnant economy. In 2013, FLTG also opened a new 22,500-square-foot headquarters in Victor, near Rochester.

“Our secret”
“Even though the national companies are increasingly focusing on larger markets, we still have plenty of competition from companies such as Time Warner and Verizon,” says Paul Nikitas, FLTG’s vice president for sales. “Our secret is to be a lean company that listens to its customers and responds. We become part of the community by building personal relationships with groups like the Chamber [of Commerce] and Rotary. It’s real, grass-roots marketing.

“We compete on service through knowledgeable reps who act as account managers,” emphasizes Nikitas. “They know the customers’ needs because they understand the big picture. The company also has dedicated design teams located in Buffalo and Victor who customize solutions, data-center capabilities, state-of-the-art technology, and integrated hardware solutions. Add to this a very competitive pricing structure and the fact that we don’t outsource any of our services. 

That’s how we compete.” 

FLTG currently has about 10,000 business customers and 5,000 residential customers.

“Finding the right employees is critical to our growth,” avers Nikitas. “We recruit new hires, who are thirsty to learn; individuals who want to grow. It’s a challenge to find the right people. The company spends a lot of time and money recruiting and then training. The payoff is that our employees stay with FLTG.” 

Yawman adds that “… we want to become the employer of choice. FLTG has a culture that promotes teamwork, empowerment, and passion. Recruiting is an ongoing daily task throughout the company.” FLTG has long had a telecommunications-internship program with upstate universities such as the Rochester Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to create internships for college students. The company is now talking to Binghamton University and SUNY Broome Community College to expand the program.

The Ontario Telephone Co., Inc. and the Trumansburg Telephone Co., Inc. (OTTC) were each founded more than 100 years ago. Hovey Griswold bought the companies in the 1920s, and OTTC/FLTG is run today by the fifth generation of eponymous presidents, Paul H. Griswold. 

FLTG has six offices: Victor, Buffalo, Phelps, Trumansburg, Romulus, and Binghamton. The stock is held in an employee-stock-option plan. FLTG’s customers include, among others, Canandaigua National Bank and Trust Co., Cornell University, the chambers of commerce of Canandaigua and Geneva, and a number of area school districts. The Greater Binghamton Business Journal estimates OTTC’s consolidated annual revenue at more than $50 million.

Yawman joined OTTC in September 2014. He is responsible for FLTG’s market expansion, business development, and mergers and acquisitions. Most recently, Yawman served as vice president and general manager of Frontier — Greater Rochester. His previous employment included being the CEO of Rocket Broadband Networks, Inc., and he co-founded Choice One Communications. Yawman earned his M.B.A. from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester and his bachelor’s degree in economics from Hobart College. He resides with his wife in Penfield. The couple has two children.

Nikitas joined the FLTG/OTTC family in 2005 as a senior account manager. In 2010, he was appointed the director of the sales team for the VAR (value-added reseller) and CLEC (competitive local-exchange company) lines. Nikitas assumed his current role in 2012. He graduated from SUNY Brockport with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and holds various certifications from Cisco. He and his wife reside with their two children in North Tonawanda.       

Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@cnybj.com