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.

Innovation as a Service: The New GCC Model

One of the multinational product leaders stopped mid-call when a Bangalore innovation pod showed three viable prototypes that had been constructed within eight days. What started as a discussion about cost and efficiency became a strategic reconsideration: the Global Capability Centre (GCC) in the centre of that demo ceased to be a support unit. It was a 24×7 innovation engine providing Innovation as a Service (IaaS) to the enterprise. This change is not anecdotal; it is the paradigm shift in the way organisations organise capability, talent and capital in the next ten years.

The GCC market in India has shifted strongly towards capability arbitrage rather than a low-cost one. Industry reporting has pegged the GCC revenue of India at around USD 64.6 billion in 2023-24, almost a 40 percent increase on the previous year, with the GCC base estimated at 1,900+ centres, with recruitment spurts and ambitious expansion strategies in leading cities of innovation. The GCC recruitments made India the top addition in the tech sector in FY25, with a greater addition of more than 100,000 new jobs, strengthening the increasing strategic presence of the GCCs. These dynamics hold the business case of innovating on demand by means of GCCs.

What is Innovation As A Service in GCCs?

Innovation as a Service: This is a repeatable operating model where GCCs offer scoped, outcome-driven innovation services (problem intake, rapid prototyping, validation, and IP creation) to global business units as an internal service. The model substitutes episodic projects with a pipeline that is continuously running a layer of service that commoditises speed, repeatability and quantifiable business impact. This is the new edge of digital transformation in the GCC and a logical extension of centres that already bring together technical depth and proximity in domains.

Economic Benefits

LaaS is an unavoidable result of a series of converging forces:

Quickening of enterprise schedules: Markets, not plans. GCCs would be able to execute simultaneous sprints through time zones to reduce product cycles.
GCCs provide economic benefit through innovation, which is 30-40 per cent cheaper than similar HQ activities because of local talent arbitrage, scale, and platform reuse providing quicker payback on R&D investments.
Budget redirection to transformation: It has been indicated by the surveys that a substantial portion of GCCs are redirecting budgets to transformation, with several spending 20 per cent or more of expenditure on technology and innovation initiatives. This financial reallocation promotes sustainable innovation services and committed IaaS organisations.
Facilitating infrastructure and policy: Data centres and state-level GCC policy (incentives, innovation parks) are enhancing the technical base of scaled innovation. The GCC growth story is closely associated with the recent infrastructure commitment and policy leverages.

Essential Features of a GCC.

An operational IaaS model includes six aspects:

Business Problem Intake Desk – Prioritises and scopes requests.
Innovation Pods — Small cross-functional teams of 1-4 week sprints.
Rapid Prototyping & AI Sandbox – Hasty validation pipelines on cloud and GenAI.
Internal IP Factory — Turn results into reusable assets and patents.
Research & Foresight Hub – Sustained market and technology scanning.
Venture Governance Layer – Portfolio, funding and scale decisions.

The flywheel consists of the following steps: intake, sprint, prototype, validation, scaling, and IP reuse. The flywheel powers velocity and the cumulative ability.

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Traditional GCC and IaaS GCC

Dimension	Traditional GCC	IaaS-Enabled GCC
Primary mandate	Cost & delivery	Capability & innovation
Pace	Linear, predictable	Sprint-based, iterative
Output	Process efficiencies	Prototypes, IP, new revenue streams
Metrics	Cost savings	Speed of innovation and business value.
Talent	Execution-focused	Cross-skilled innovators

Applications and Financial Results.

Real-world use cases are already yielding tangible results: fraud detection models prototyped in weeks, retail inventory automation pilots that reduce shrinkage, and digital twins in manufacturing that reduce time-to-market. Every successful pilot reduces the cost of future experimentation and improves the assets of reusable platforms, thereby improving the marginal economics of subsequent projects.

Challenges And the Path Ahead

Cultural shifts, new funding models, governance that strikes a balance between enterprise alignment and autonomy, and specialised skills to move delivery teams into innovation roles are all necessary for adoption. However, policy stimuli, increased GCC funds for transformation and enhanced infrastructure reduce the entry barrier.

Conclusion

GCCs are coming out of back-office centres, becoming managed innovation services and internal venture studios. Businesses will realise value disproportionately through their GCC networks if they approach innovation as a service, where it is a predictable, financed, and repeatable competency. The future business will not be concerned with whether to outsource innovation; it will be concerned with what GCC will offer as the quickest, safest, and least expensive path to tried concepts and worldwide magnitude.

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frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Who are the Pharma GCC development leaders in India?

Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune have become significant pharma innovation centres with global delivery centres of major biotechnological and pharmaceutical firms such as Novartis, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and GSK.

Which economic benefits do Pharma GCCs have?

They offer an economic benefit of calculation, a variety of scientific and technical human resources, and speedy time-to-market. On average, businesses reduce between 25-40 percent of the operational costs and increase the rate of innovation.

Which technologies are influencing Pharma GCC operations nowadays?

The next-generation operations of Pharma GCC focus on advanced molecular modelling, AI/ML-based drug discovery, cloud supercomputing, and data integration platforms, as well as quantum-ready simulations.

What is the role of AI in Pharma GCC processes?

Pharma GCCs use AI to screen molecules, predict the efficacy of drugs, optimise clinical trials and aid in making data-driven decisions, resulting in smarter, faster and safer drug pipelines.

How will Pharma GCCs look in five years to come?

Pharma GCCs will be global innovation ecosystems that are a combination of computational chemistry, generative AI, and quantum computing. They will turn into the hubs linking data science, discovery and regulatory intelligence in the global arena.

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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.