The “next normal” is here, arriving much sooner than anticipated. Businesses across industries, locations, and sizes are rapidly adapting to a post-COVID world, where traditional models of work and operations have been permanently altered. In this new landscape, Global Capability Centers (GCCs) are playing an increasingly critical role, but their value propositions are shifting dramatically.
As businesses transform into digital-first organizations, GCCs must evolve from their traditional focus on cost, capacity, and talent arbitrage to become strategic partners that drive innovation, differentiation, and growth.
The Need for Digital Transformation
In the next normal, digital transformation is not just a buzzword—it’s a business imperative. Companies are being pushed to:
- Reimagine business models and strategies for digital relevance
- Invest in automation, cloud, AI, and data engineering
- Support hybrid workforces with new technologies and processes
- Embed intelligence into every product, system, and process
This isn’t merely about adopting new tools. True transformation requires creative and committed organizational change management, ensuring that people, processes, and technology align for long-term success.
The Evolving Role of GCCs
Pre-COVID, GCCs provided companies with valuable cost savings, productivity improvements, and access to quality talent. However, the pandemic has revealed their potential to be much more. GCCs successfully enabled workforce transformation, ensuring business continuity and, in many cases, boosting productivity. Now, as we move forward, the role of GCCs must be reimagined.
Here’s how the traditional GCC value propositions are evolving:
Expense Management
Old Model: Lower cost services and workforce.
Next Normal: Enhance competitive advantage through pricing, product cost, quality, and innovation.
Talent
Old Model: Hire high-quality talent for GCC-executed work.
Next Normal: Onboard enterprise talent capable of becoming global leaders, with the same accountability and impact as HQ leaders.
Service Delivery
Old Model: Deliver high-quality, impactful services.
Next Normal: Take ownership and accountability for key business functions, influencing critical business outcomes like growth and differentiation.
Capacity
Old Model: Ensure on-time, on-budget delivery of assigned business functions.
Next Normal: Transform the workforce into a strategic asset aligned with company priorities.
Capabilities
Old Model: Expand capabilities in emerging business areas.
Next Normal: Own and drive business capabilities in critical areas such as AI, blockchain, and RPA, demonstrating tangible business value.
Operating Model
Old Model: Act as an extension of the enterprise.
Next Normal: Become the enterprise, with leaders who own functions and deliver measurable business results.
Workforce Transformation
Old Model: Supplement enterprise talent with global expertise.
Next Normal: Enable collaboration across globally distributed teams, executing work from any location.
GCCs now have a unique opportunity to reinvent themselves and help their host companies not just survive but thrive in the next normal. By transforming into strategic, value-driving partners, GCCs can help businesses achieve the “escape velocity” necessary to stay competitive in an increasingly digital world.