GCCs do not become Capability Centres by being named so – surely, not right away as they are set up or merely by efflux of time or scale! They need to consciously become one! Most GCCs are still struggling with this simple truth!

• More FTEs ≠ Higher maturity
• More bots ≠ Digital transformation
• Green SLAs ≠ Business value
• Sporadic AI deployment ≠ AI First GCC etc etc…

The challenge is not intent. Most GCCs genuinely aspire to become enterprise value creators. The challenge is that they overestimate their progress & maturity because they’re measuring outputs, instead of business outcomes and enterprise impact.

Then how does one measure the enterprise value that the GCC creating? This is precisely the thinking behind RISE, Quintes Global’s GCC Capability Maturity Framework. RISE is a strategic lens that challenges GCCs to leverage ‘collaboration’ for ‘capability’ and progress towards “Commitment to enterprise outcomes”, and the “Competitive Edge”.

More importantly, the framework examines maturity through dimensions that are often under-assessed in traditional GCC evaluations: enterprise alignment, collaboration depth, decision ownership, innovation contribution, digital capability, AI readiness, operating-model maturity, and business outcome orientation. This becomes particularly relevant now because AI is rapidly exposing the maturity divide between GCCs.

2. Artificial Intelligence is not a side experiment – Widening of the Gap

Enterprises globally are racing to embed AI into their Operations and Business, and GCCs are now supposed to or expected to lead that charge…..to make the Enterprise accelerate that AI journey! Yet many remain stuck due to lack of clarity, slow decision-making, unclear prioritization, IP concerns, and use-case selection that is technology-led rather than business-led and hence leaving transformative value on the table. Everyone is talking about it, however only few of them are thinking holistically. As a result, three distinct categories of GCCs are beginning to emerge.

(a) Sitting Ducks — Talking AI. Waiting for clarity. Losing ground daily.

(b) Window Dressers — Piloting. Presenting. Delivering theatre, not transformation.

(c) Marching Ahead — Executing a real AI roadmap. Building moats. Widening the gap.

The uncomfortable truth? The majority are in bucket (a) and (b). The gap between these groups is widening quickly. Industry observations increasingly reinforce this direction. A relatively small segment of GCCs currently operate at advanced strategic maturity levels, and they are expected to function as enterprise innovation orchestrators and AI transformation hubs rather than traditional support organizations.

What many organizations lack today is not AI awareness, but structured AI acceleration.

Our proprietary tool TIES, enables GCCs to just not assess their current digital maturity but provides a playbook for accelerating on the right areas to ‘up the digital & AI maturity’ focused on delivering results (read here value impact for enterprise).

3. Hybrid Model is Gaining the Ground – The Real Accelerator

It is interesting the way the world of GCC is evolving and finding its own direction – what we, at Quintes, call as the ‘Age of Collaboration’ or the ‘Age of Collaborative Value’! When a pure-play captive model (Company Owned & Company Operated) can’t move or does not know how to move fast enough, and traditional outsourcing means losing control (to the Service Provider) — there’s a third, and more value generating path – The HYBRID: Company Owned, Partner Operated (COPO).

• Partner-led execution — specialist horsepower without ceding control
• You (Enterprise) own the IP — models, data, talent strategy, branding inside your boundary
• 30–50% faster AI deployment cycles — leap-frog without the build-from-scratch tax

Several factors are driving this shift:

1. Unbiased Orchestrators to make the ‘COPO’ happen
2. Velocity to Transform and Adoption of AI
3. Investment Avoidance to scale AI in GCCs
4. Guaranteed Saves & Benefits
5. Channelize Focus on Core Business
6. Scale Constraints and Fat belly Optimization (Rhombus to Pyramid)

The increasing interest in hybrid operating structures is also being reflected in broader industry discourse and several global advisory firms, particularly as GCCs move toward becoming enterprise transformation hubs rather than standalone operational entities. Interestingly, COPO is not simply outsourcing under a different label.

“The GCCs that lead the next decade won’t be those who waited for a miracle — they’ll be the ones who co-created the engine with the right partners and delivered the magic.”

4. For IT Services firms — the Playbook has changed

The “either/or” era is over. Happy to see that IT Services majors have moved to accept the reality of the “and” paradigm to co-exist. The GCC world doesn’t want you as a vendor. It wants you as a co-creator. The firms gaining relevance are already making that shift:

• From FTE/margin thinking → enterprise value thinking
• From traditional outsourcing → capability acceleration
• From headcount delivery → outcome ownership

If you’re still pitching seat-based models to GCC leaders in 2025, you’re not late — you’re irrelevant.

5. ‘Call to Action’ – for GCC Leaders to Prioritize

So, is your GCC indispensable tomorrow, or just relevant today or has already been losing its relevance, yesterday? GCC leaders now need to make deliberate choices around capability maturity, AI operationalization, operating-model evolution, and ecosystem collaboration, and below are the recommended areas of action:

• Baseline the Maturity (Leverage the RISETM framework)
• Evolve holistic AI strategy (Deploy TIESTM framework and leverage AIXeleronTM platform)
• IT/ITeS firms to uplift market positioning (Redefine and roadmap for enhancing capability)
• Adopt bespoke Hybrid structuring (Shape your strategy to speed up & amplify unlocking the value)

The future GCC will not be differentiated by scale alone. It will be differentiated by how deeply it shapes enterprise decisions, transformation velocity, innovation capability, and competitive advantage. For leaders, the uncomfortable but necessary question is this: is your GCC still being valued for scale, or is it being trusted for transformation? The answer will define its relevance in the years ahead.

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