Global Capability Centers (GCCs) have long been viewed as back-office cost shelters, labor arbitrage engines that helped multinational corporations (MNCs) optimize costs and scale operations. But as the world shifts to digital-first, AI-led enterprises, that paradigm is cracking. GCCs are rapidly evolving, from cost centers to strategic innovation hubs.
Recent market data underscores this shift: as of FY24, India hosts ~1,700 GCCs with a workforce of ~1.9 million and export revenue of US$64.6 billion, up over 40% from the previous year. By 2030, projections suggest the GCC count in India will reach ~2,100–2,200 and revenue up to US$99–105 billion. [Source: Economic Times]
At the same time, GCCs are delivering outsized value growth for parent organizations: during FY20–24, Indian GCCs delivered a weighted average value CAGR of 10–11%, with expected growth of 11–12% CAGR across FY25–29. [Source: PwC]
These numbers reflect more than growth in size; they imply a change in purpose. From supporting legacy operations to powering global product delivery, digital innovation, and strategic decision-making, GCCs are becoming central to enterprise value creation.
Why GCCs are undergoing a strategic shift, and what’s driving it
1. Scale and strategic risk management drive insourcing
With over 5,400 in-house GCC/GBS centers globally and nearly 3,000 inside India alone, companies are shifting away from outsourcing to insourcing to gain greater control, improve efficiency, and manage risk better. [Source: Alvarez & Marsal] This is especially compelling in a business environment where compliance, data privacy, and global delivery mandates demand tighter control and alignment.
2. Demand for innovation, not just execution
As digital transformation, cloud migration, and AI adoption accelerate globally, enterprises expect their GCCs to do more than transaction processing, they want them to deliver engineering, R&D, analytics, product development, and global-scale capabilities. [Source: EY] Indeed, a growing number of GCCs are handling end-to-end global product life cycles, not just support tasks.
3. Higher value contribution & strategic impact
GCCs are no longer auxiliary cost centers, they are value drivers. As per a recent industry study, many GCCs now own critical global processes, influence enterprise-wide decisions, and deliver measurable impact. [Source: EY] They are increasingly recognized as delivery engines for innovation, not just operations, a shift that reflects the maturity of global companies’ offshore capabilities.
From trend to transformation: Why GCCs must be AI-ready, not just cost-effective
Given this shift, GCCs are under pressure to upgrade themselves, not just in scale, but in quality, agility, and innovation potential. Here are some of the core pressures:
- Tooling and process fragmentation as back-office functions evolve into product development or engineering hubs.
- Talent skill gaps, especially for cloud-native, DevOps, agile, and AI-focused work.
- Lack of standardization and governance as multiple functions converge (IT, product, analytics, operations).
- Pressure to accelerate time-to-market, support global teams, and manage complex cross-border workflows.
- Need for continuous improvement, innovation pipelines, and scalability without ballooning cost.
In short: a modern GCC must be built like a software company, not just a shared-services center.
enreap: Enabling the next-gen GCC journey
At enreap, we believe the real value of a GCC lies in its ability to evolve, from stable operations to continuous innovation. Leveraging our deep expertise in DevOps, cloud, Atlassian ecosystems, process automation, and agile transformation, we help enterprises build AI-ready GCCs, and guide them across the full maturity spectrum.
Build AI-ready foundations
- Conduct Discovery & Advisory to blueprint optimal architecture, compliance, tooling and governance.
- Lead Cloud & Tool Migrations, consolidating fragmented systems, and positioning GCCs for scale.
- Execute Fixed-Effort Projects to build robust Atlassian, DevOps, project-management and collaboration tool ecosystems, powering automation and integration.
- Deliver Training & Enablement to onboard core teams, facilitating smooth transitions from legacy to modern ways of working.
Accelerate with automation & agile talent
- Provide Strategic Staff Augmentation (SSA), niche talent (cloud engineers, DevOps, Atlassian admins/devs, automation specialists) to fill critical gaps.
- Offer Shared Managed Services to manage and govern complex tool landscapes across global teams.
- Architect Automation Pipelines, integrating tools (Jira, ServiceNow, Salesforce, PPM tools such as Monday.com / Planview / ODT) to eliminate silos, reduce manual work, and speed up delivery.
- Create AI-driven observability & governance dashboards, giving transparency, compliance, and real-time insights into GCC operations.
Scale into innovation hubs
- Deploy Dedicated Managed Teams & Innovation Pods, fully aligned with business goals, capable of global delivery of products, not just services.
- Establish Continuous Improvement Programs, driving incremental enhancement, automation maturity, and value delivery at scale.
- Enable Cross-Border Expansion & Global Integration, helping GCCs become central to the enterprise’s strategic roadmap.
How GCCs mature, and why enreap’s model fits all stages
| GCC Stage | Typical Challenges | enreap’s Entry Points & Messaging |
| Stage 1, Setup & Stabilization (0–3 yrs) | Blueprinting, compliance, tool fragmentation, talent onboarding | Discovery workshops, migrations, fixed-effort deployments, training, |
| Stage 2, Stabilization (1–3 yrs overlapping) | Governance gaps, early automation, productivity bottlenecks | Shared Managed Services, SSA, automation accelerators. |
| Stage 3, Optimization & Expansion (3–8 yrs) | Scaling operations, cross-border integration, tool sprawl, lack of innovation processes | Extensions, advanced automation, continuous improvement, plugin/extension development, integration of Jira/PPM/ITSM ecosystems. |
| Stage 4, Mature & Strategic (8+ yrs) | Innovation fatigue, stagnating agility, need for new digital products/services, AI adoption pressure | Dedicated managed teams, innovation pods, 24/7 managed services, platform & AI engineering. |
Why this matters, and why timing is critical
- India’s GCC ecosystem is rapidly maturing: what began as a wave of cost-arbitrage set-ups is now becoming one of the largest global pools of engineering, R&D and product-delivery talent.
- Headcount is rising, GCCs added ~110,000 new employees in FY25, while traditional service-providers saw net reductions in headcount this period.
- Enterprises are increasingly expecting GCCs to deliver strategic value, higher automation, global delivery, product innovation, and AI-driven capabilities.
- At the same time, complexity, tool fragmentation, compliance, and global scale, are increasing. Without a structured, AI-ready, automation-first foundation, many GCCs risk becoming inefficient, brittle, and unable to scale.
In this environment, early movers, those who build with the right architecture, automation, talent, and governance, will emerge as competitive winners.
That’s exactly the window of opportunity that enreap helps enterprises capture.
Build the future, not just the back office
If your enterprise is establishing a new GCC, stabilizing one, or looking to scale an existing one into a global innovation hub, now is the time to think beyond cost. Think speed, automation, agility, global collaboration, and product innovation.
With enreap as your partner, you get:
- Strategic advisory to plan a future-ready GCC
- Execution strength across cloud, DevOps, tool-stack, and automation
- Flexible engagement models, advisory, fixed-projects, staff augmentation, managed services, dedicated teams
- A pathway from “cost center” to “innovation engine”
Because the future of GCCs isn’t just cheaper operations, it’s global competitiveness.