CIOInsider India Magazine

India's Global Capability Centers (GCCs) are experiencing a transformation in their identity. Currently, GCCs are rising as crucial hubs propelling product development, worldwide go-to-market strategies, and advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) across various sectors. These centers function as internal entities within the worldwide corporate framework, delivering specialized solutions including IT services, Research and Development (R&D), customer assistance, and various business activities.

GCCs and GICs are crucial for leveraging cost efficiencies, promoting cooperation between parent companies and their offshore branches, and tapping into talent resources. Let’s learn more about how India’s Global Capability Centers are experiencing an identity transformation and are evolving into strategic hubs facilitating product innovation, global market access, and advancements AI across various sectors.

Opportunities for GCCs in India
Despite a notable evolution in India's corporate environment due to the creation of GCCs, various challenges have surfaced that offer prospects for growth and enhancement in this sector. India's reputation for its extensive and varied workforce means that talent retention can be achieved through attractive salaries, opportunities for career growth, and fostering a positive workplace culture. MNCs can work with government entities to foster a more business-friendly environment by navigating India's intricate regulatory landscape.
Focusing on tier-2 and tier-3 cities, enhancing physical and digital infrastructure will boost the growth of GCCs and regional advancements. Ultimately, the partnership among different industry stakeholders and government entities can strengthen the innovation ecosystem, resulting in improved research skills, entrepreneurship, and the application of new technologies that establish India as a global center for innovation.

India: A Hub of Skills and Facilities
India's success in the GCC is driven by two strong elements: talent and infrastructure. India boasts a talent pool exceeding 2.5 million professionals, providing a distinct combination of profound technical skills, digital competence, and adaptable cross-functional abilities. GCCs gain from a mainly youthful workforce, providing new viewpoints, adaptability, and future-ready abilities that propel innovation and international business achievement.

The infrastructure has developed as well. Today's GCCs are constructed on AI-enhanced, cloud-centric, and cyber-resilient platforms. Cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai are at the forefront, while Tier-2 cities are quickly rising as future innovation centers. This growth is driven by enhanced connectivity, intelligent campuses, adaptable work arrangements, and the availability of digitally skilled workforce.

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Risk Assessment
In a world characterized by complexity and unpredictability, risk management has evolved from a back-office role to a fundamental business facilitator. The third pillar of India's GCC revolution emphasizes how Indian GCCs are reshaping risk evaluation to establish resilient, adaptive, and secure organizations.

The current risk environment includes cyber threats, data privacy issues, regulatory changes, supply chain challenges, and geopolitical instability. Indian GCCs are leading the way in addressing these challenges not only in reaction but also in anticipation.

In contrast to conventional IT companies that typically prioritize output rather than innovation, GCCs emphasize value generation through creativity and innovation. GCCs are developing and shifting towards more intricate and higher-value tasks, leading to a greater demand for varied skills.

To draw in the ideal talent, organizations are focusing on improving employee experience through opportunities for skill growth, a supportive culture, better career trajectories, attractive salaries, adaptable work arrangements, and a strong overall employee value proposition. Moreover, the organizations are demonstrating on-going success as a result of their diversity efforts. Inclusive recruitment approaches, employee affinity groups, initiatives for women’s empowerment, and emphasis on diversity and inclusion (D&I) foster an innovative culture by incorporating diverse viewpoints.

This increasingly knowledge-driven and progressive setting creates new requirements – one being the necessity for a far more comprehensive, all-encompassing IT framework. GCC operators must provide more than just CX support for MNCs: they should also deliver business intelligence (BI) services, connectivity, cybersecurity, and cloud solutions, in addition to essential functions such as contact centre and employee experience (EX) through digital workplace offerings.

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What Makes GCCs Grow Quickly?
Cloud and edge infrastructure are vital for enabling GCCs to grow quickly, remain adaptable, and effectively support geographically distributed teams. Edge computing plays a vital role in performing data-heavy tasks nearer to end-users and devices, and is crucial for applications in IoT, intelligent manufacturing, and remote observation. India’s GCCs are implementing advanced robotic process automation (RPA) technologies to liberate human resources from monotonous, repetitive tasks and enable these GCCs to concentrate on more valuable activities. RPA is particularly well-suited for business functions in areas such as finance, human resources, and supply chains, for instance.

Data analytics and BI play a crucial role, as insights based on data are necessary for GCCs to fulfill the global directives of MNCs. BI platforms and analytics tools provide real-time insights that enable GCCs to monitor KPIs, enhance processes, and make data-driven strategic decisions that continuously improve operations.

GCCs have the capability—and indeed the obligation—to utilize AI in all these functions to improve them significantly and facilitate quicker, better-informed decision-making. AI assists GCCs in optimizing these technologies and playing a greater role in business transformation and innovation.