Mastering GCC Success: Best Practices for Thriving the Global Capability Center (GCC)

The landscape of IT services has undergone a noticeable shift in recent times. While the industry faces challenges of slowing demand, hiring delays, and recessionary concerns, a quiet yet powerful force has emerged—Global Capability Centers (GCCs). These captive units of multinational corporations have been steadily gaining momentum, with an impressive trajectory that promises growth and expansion.

According to the NASSCOM report’ GCC 4.0 – India Redefining the Globalization Blueprint,’ India boasts over 1,550 GCCs, employing over 16 lakh professionals. Projections suggest a further surge, anticipating a rise to 2,000-plus GCCs in India by 2026-27 ^[1]. This trend isn’t exclusive to India, as regions like China, the Philippines, and Poland showcase similar growth patterns ^[2].

Driving Forces Behind GCC 4.0 Growth

Several key enablers fuel the remarkable ascent of GCCs:

• Monetizing Services: Shifting focus towards value-generation from services.
• Peer GCC Collaboration: Collaborative efforts fostering innovation and learning.
• Customer-Centric Approach: Prioritizing customer needs for business development.
• Policy Formulation: Collaborating with governments for smoother operations.
• ‘As-a-Service’ Transformation: Embracing digital transformation services.
• Generative AI Paradigm: Leveraging AI for innovative solutions.

However, the successful establishment and sustenance of a GCC require a nuanced understanding of shared service organization drivers. Achieving this demands a delicate equilibrium across various pivotal areas, such as customer delivery excellence, cultural development, robust governance structures, and brand identity cultivation, among other factors.

Best Practices for GCC Success

To perpetuate success, established GCCs must continuously innovate and adapt. This includes investing in employee training, constant process optimization, and maintaining robust communication with the parent company for aligned strategies. Here are some critical practices essential for sustained success:

CEO-Driven Strategy

Emphasizing Integral Role: A clear strategy driven by the CEO underscores the GCC’s significance within the global organization. This reinforces alignment and commitment across all levels of the parent company.

Talent Acquisition & Branding

Values Alignment: Strong branding aligns the GCC with the parent company’s values, fostering a sense of purpose among employees. This alignment goes beyond financial benefits and attracts talent seeking broader meaning in their work.

Cultural Integration: Focus on maintaining cultural alignment over time to prevent divergence between the GCC and the parent organization. Regular town halls, leadership visits, and cross-organizational team collaborations ensure continued cultural unity.

Compliance & Legal Formalities

Incorporation Process: Streamlining incorporation processes, which have become digital in many regions, is crucial. Adhering to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOA), Articles of Association, and Directors ID (DIN) ensures compliance and minimizes future costs.

Strategic HR Leadership:

Cultural Fit in Hiring: Employing HR leaders aligned with the parent company’s culture eases the integration process and ensures talent acquisition based on cultural fit. They adapt global HR policies to local contexts, encompassing hiring standards, performance metrics, variable pay, and remote work policies.

Talent Retention Strategies

Nurturing Work Culture: Building a nurturing work culture promotes talent retention, especially in regions with higher attrition rates. Consistent branding and challenging work opportunities contribute to attracting and retaining top talent.

Recruiter as a Revenue Enabler: Investing in quality recruiters who embody the company’s brand and values aids in attracting the right talent. Differentiated HR practices like remote working broaden the talent pool.

Standardized SOPs

Operational Efficiency: Clear and precise Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for operational aspects ensure smooth transitions, standardization of processes, and transparency. Employee committees aid in reviewing SOPs, flagging non-compliance, and taking corrective measures, fostering a culture of process excellence.

Transformative Role

Technical/Thought Leadership: Evolving from being a cost center to a transformative leader entails pursuing technical and thought leadership. GCCs can lead in new-age technologies (AI/ML, Python, big data), enabling the parent organization’s digital transformation journey.

Why YASH?

YASH Technologies has been helping global organizations set up their GCCs in India since 2005. With a presence in 40+ countries, YASH works with customer teams ( globally and locally) to provide unique services to their GCCs. This includes building a robust and reliable talent supply chain unique to each customer based on their technical, functional, and cultural fit. With secure CMMI – Level 5 office infrastructure available in Tier 1, 2, and 3 cities, we are uniquely positioned to provide our customers end-to-end services in the GCC landscape.

• GCC Success
• Global Capability Centers