What is a Global Capability Center (GCC)?

A Global Capability Center (GCC) is a centralized offshore unit established by an organization to deliver strategic services such as IT, engineering, analytics, finance, and R&D to support global operations.

What is an Offshore Development Center (ODC)?

An Offshore Development Center (ODC) is a dedicated team located in a different country that focuses primarily on software development, application maintenance, and technology support for a client.

What services are commonly delivered through a GCC?

GCCs provide services such as IT operations, product engineering, data analytics, cybersecurity, finance and accounting, HR services, and research and development.

What are the key benefits of setting up a GCC?

Key benefits include cost optimization, access to global talent, operational scalability, faster innovation, improved control, and long-term strategic value creation.

Which industries commonly use GCCs and ODCs?

Industries such as technology, banking and financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, telecom, and automotive commonly leverage GCCs and ODCs.

What locations are popular for setting up GCCs and ODCs?

Popular locations include India, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Philippines due to strong talent pools and cost advantages.

How long does it take to set up a GCC or ODC?

The setup timeline can range from a few weeks to several months, depending on factors such as location, scale, infrastructure requirements, and governance model.

Is a GCC or an ODC better for long-term growth?

A GCC is generally better for long-term strategic growth and innovation, while an ODC is ideal for rapid execution, flexibility, and short- to medium-term technology needs.

How do GCCs and ODCs help with cost optimization?

They reduce costs by leveraging lower labor expenses, optimizing resource utilization, minimizing infrastructure investments, and enabling round-the-clock development through time-zone advantages.

How is data security and IP protection handled in GCCs and ODCs?

Data security is ensured through strict compliance frameworks, secure infrastructure, access controls, legal agreements, and adherence to international standards such as ISO, SOC, and GDPR.

From Perimeter to Zero Trust: GCC Security Shift

Global Capability Centers (GCCs) are no longer back-office processing centers; they are strategic innovation engines that deal with mission-critical product development, data science, and platform engineering. There are over 1,900 GCCs in India, which have earned approximately 65 billion and have an employment of about 1.9 million professionals, which is a large scale that makes the issue of GCC security an economic and operational issue of concern.

Traditional network boundaries have been erased by the GCC work scale and sensitivity, alongside migration to the cloud, hybrid work, and API-driven operations. At the same time, threat actors have now become more tactical: ransomware, data exfiltration, and compromise of supply chains now target distributed teams and third-party services as opposed to just one data center. These two forces have generated a need for a new security posture: Zero-Trust Architecture (ZTA).

A Brief History

The first GCC security measures, such as perimeter firewalls, VPNs, and trusted internal networks, mirrored enterprise IT at the time. That model was enough in cases where the majority of workloads were on-premise and access was office-bound. When GCCs were turned into cloud-native hubs (microservices, DevOps pipelines, and external data feeds), the trusted inside/untrusted outside assumption started to collapse, lead times of breach detection became longer, and horizontal movement and insider risk increased. As a result, perimeter defense was no longer adequate and was now required.

Why Zero Trust Is The Next Best Thing

Zero Trust does not count on presumed trust but refers to the verification of trust: never trust, always verify. The new GCC’s business realities are global workforces, temporary computing, and more precise data access requirements that are directly related to its core tenets of identity as the new perimeter, least privilege, micro-segmentation, and continuous monitoring. The market momentum indicates the same trend: According to industry surveys and analysts, Zero Trust is shifting faster and faster, and most organisations actively pursue or consider Zero Trust programs in 2024-2025.

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Transformations in the GCCs

The following is a succinct perspective of the transformation underway of GCC security controls towards the Zero-Trust practices.

Security Area	Old Way (Perimeter Defence)	New Way (Zero-Trust Approach)
Access Control	Any person within the office system was automatically trusted.	No access can be granted without verifying every user and device.
User Permissions	Wide access is provided to teams or positions.	The access given is restricted in time and purpose.
Network Security	Lined by firewalls and solid boundaries.	Separated into smaller areas in order to prevent the spread of one violation.
Monitoring	Audited occasionally.	Monitored with real-time warning and data analysis.
Data Protection	Data encryption was done on storage alone.	Data protection is provided during storage, sharing and use
Governance	Departments handled policies independently.	Core policies are used in all the GCC destinations.

Economic Advantages

It is not a security game to go zero trust; rather, it is an economic enabler for the GCC and parent organizations.

Zero Trust will reduce the extent of breaches, hence financial losses due to ransomware and data theft.
Regulatory alignment with regular identity-based controls, cross-border compliance, and audits are more straightforward.
Agility in operations and secure-by-design access patterns help in the acceleration of safe developer productivity and speedy deployment of world services.
Mature zero-trust postures demonstrated by GCCs instill greater confidence in internal businesses and external customers, enhancing contract bids and premium positioning.

Recent studies and market forecasts indicate that there is strong business momentum currently supporting these architectures as vendors and businesses increase their investments in Zero-Trust toolkits.

Organisational And Human Changes

It is not just a technology that will provide resilient GCC security. Leaders should invest in three related areas, namely:

(1) Talent – Establish cybersecurity Centres of Excellence within GCCs and train engineers in secure coding and cloud hardening;

(2) Process – Introduce security gates into CI/CD and procurement; and

(3) Culture—Make verifying continuously the responsibility of product, data, and business teams. GCCs that position Zero Trust as a program (people + process + tech) instead of a product have a higher payback faster and more sustainably.

Future Perspective

The three years to come will witness Banking GCCs as key constructionists of two long-term trends:

BaaS is offered by modular API stacks that allow non-bank platforms to integrate financial products on a large scale.
AI-native financial services – The operationalised model of personalised credit, pricing and risk will be implemented as a continuous production process by GCCs.
GCC’s Interoperable Ecosystems – GCCs will knit regulatory sandboxes, identity networks and payment rails into cross-border Open Finance flows.

Open Finance is not a product but rather an operating model; the operating muscle is provided by GCCs. With GCCs taking on more engineering, risk, and product responsibilities, banks can become more competitive with fintech-native platforms without losing the trust of customers and regulators.

New Trends And Short-Term Prospects

There are several trends that are expected to increase into 2026, including extensive migration of the existing VPNs to identity-based access, ubiquitous JIT provisioning, and more use of AI to detect and respond to threats. GCCs should be vigilant because attackers will continue to target weak points, such as unmanageable endpoints at Tier-2/3 locations, poorly managed cloud identities, and third-party vendors.

The urgency is highlighted by recent national and industry reports: the landscape of cyber threats in India was registered in significant amounts of malware and targeted ransomware incidences in cities and industries, which supports the necessity of contemporary architectures and prompt detection.

Conclusion

The direction of GCC security is evident: perimeter defense brings stability; Zero Trust provides resilience and a competitive edge. This will become a necessity rather than a pleasant surprise in case GCCs continue to perform their strategic duty, which is to provide innovation at scale, safeguard customer trust, and conduct global operations. Chief executive officers who focus on identity, visibility, and least privilege today will open the door to reduced risk, regulatory certainty, and increased rates of economic payoff throughout their GCC presence.

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frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What is a Global Capability Centre (GCC)?

A GCC is an offshore facility of a multinational company that undertakes niche roles such as research and development, information technology service and strategic management.

What is the Stand-Up India scheme?

It is a government program that gives the women entrepreneurs up to 1 crore in bank loans to fund greenfield projects.

What are the challenges associated with women in tech?

Personal responsibilities and unconscious bias are the factors that lead to their mid-career attrition and slow them down in their careers.

What is the effect of women leaders in the innovation process?

They introduce new ideas, understanding, and team-oriented leadership that speeds up the advancement of such areas as AI and cybersecurity.

What does the future of women in the leadership of the GCC hold?

By 2030, women are expected to take up 25-30 per cent of GCC leadership positions, which will be paramount to the growth of the Indian market.

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Aditi

Aditi, with a strong background in forensic science and biotechnology, brings an innovative scientific perspective to her work. Her expertise spans research, analytics, and strategic advisory in consulting and GCC environments. She has published numerous research papers and articles. A versatile writer in both technical and creative domains, Aditi excels at translating complex subjects into compelling insights. Which she aligns seamlessly with consulting, advisory domain, and GCC operations. Her ability to bridge science, business, and storytelling positions her as a strategic thinker who can drive data-informed decision-making.