GCC leaders—you may have been superheroes, but now it’s time to assemble your Avengers!

The recent HFS India Summit and our latest interactions with GCC leaders have essentially ended a long-standing debate—the GCC value proposition is firmly intact, and the model is here to stay. In India, substantial talent availability and robust government investments catalyze GCCs to begin the long-desired pivot.

That said, as we prepare for an AI-led, Services-as-Software world, enterprises must venture outside their walls and embrace a true OneEcosystem™ mindset. GCCs can no longer afford to remain individual superheroes managing scaled delivery portfolios—they must evolve into orchestrators of a dynamic ecosystem comprising service providers, startups, academia, and other market participants. They also must help their enterprises constantly access and embed best-of-breed capabilities and innovations.

GCC leaders must buckle up for the long game

The ever-expanding scope of GCCs’ coverage has made them the de-facto engine rooms of enterprise talent and custodians of data and insights. This positioning now thrusts GCCs into the core of AI-led services disruption (i.e., the eye of the storm). GCCs must be at the vanguard of their enterprise transformation into AI-infused businesses, which will be about skills and innovation arbitrage (see Exhibit 1). Almost all GCC leaders we have recently interacted with agree on one common theme—their journeys have just started.

Exhibit 1: Significant headroom for value creation via the GCC model

Source: HFS Research, 2025

GCCs risk being left behind in the AI race

Traditionally, GCCs have been reactive to technology transformation. They have typically followed technology roadmaps set out by their parent enterprises and developed capabilities as “demanded” by the business. However, with AI increasingly collapsing the time to value realization, GCCs must abandon this order-taking operational mindset. GCC leaders must proactively drive the AI charter, leveraging AI to mature their operations while enabling the broader organization to rapidly test and scale AI and other emerging technologies. GCCs must evolve into key technology strategy influencers and decision-makers.

Exhibit 2: AI-infusion: A key focus theme for GCCs

Source: HFS Research, 2025

It’s time to drop the “us” vs. “them” mindset

Another key validation emerging from the India summit is that no one can survive alone in this technology arbitrage world. To paraphrase the Winterfell motto: When the snows fall and the “AI” winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Enterprises must continue building a portfolio of internal and external capabilities to balance cost, innovation, and control mandates. GCCs will need to actively collaborate and co-innovate with service providers and technology vendors to achieve the mutual objective of delivering business value for the enterprise.

Exhibit 3: GCCs and service providers will both play a crucial role in the enterprise universe

Source: HFS Research, 2025

India will continue to lead the global services charge

Human capital will remain the key currency (and gap) of enterprises in the coming years. India’s value proposition as a global services destination continues to evolve cost arbitrage driven by substantial private-public investments and a burgeoning start-up ecosystem. Enterprises such as PepsiCo, Eastman Chemical, and Microsoft have specifically called out the criticality of India’s talent in entry-level, leadership, and advanced roles in technology, engineering, and supply chain processes. Indian GCCs also have the opportunity to serve as effective training grounds for the next generation of global executives. Enterprises are designing leadership development programs that rotate executives among Indian GCCs, other GCC locations, and the broader organization.

Enterprises such as Microsoft and Unilever explicitly integrate their GCCs into their global operating models, eliminating the distinction between headquarters and so-called “offshore” centers.

Exhibit 4: India’s outlook as a global services destination

Source: HFS Research, 2025

The Bottom Line: The HFS Summit represented a microcosm of the global services ecosystem. It brought together leaders from GCCs, service providers, start-ups, and the government.

The message was clear: No one can win alone. Enterprises no longer need individual superheroes—they need teams that utilize each member’s unique strengths and abilities to overcome challenges. GCC leaders must reorient their vision from building larger centers to nurturing broader ecosystems, helping enterprises navigate an ever-evolving technology and services landscape.