With skills requirements in Global Capability Centres (GCC) evolving, access to the right talent is one of the major challenges faced by companies seeking productivity improvements. There is a need to ramp up recruitment of AI and machine learning skills and supplement with data science, analytics and other technical skillsets. This has also led to GCCs looking towards managed services providers for talent needs.
According to research by the US-based IT research firm ISG, nearly 50 per cent of companies will expand the services portfolio in their GCCs over the next two years. To manage this expansion, centres say they will invest an average of $1,400 per employee towards generative AI initiatives in 2025.
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With over 1,700 GCCs of large multinational companies located in India employing nearly 2 million people and generating about $65 billion in export revenue, the ISG research assumes significance for the country.
Kamal Karanth, Co-Founder, Xpheno says despite the macro headwinds across geographies, the demand for skilled tech talent has been steady. AI-related skill demand is the new dimension that has further aggravated the situation. “Organisations have very little time to ‘build’ AI talent, so there is a rush to ‘buy’ this talent (call it lateral hiring). There has been an influx of 120 GCCs to India over the last 30 months, and about 41,000 tech talent have been hired by these greenfield GCCs from IT Services companies and other GCCs.”
Additionally, the preceding two years have seen about 50,000 – 70,000 software engineers migrating overseas yearly, he said. The high mobility of these engineers has also increased the compensation cost for organisations, making it attractive for talent supply specialists, says Karanth.
As a result, consulting companies, IT Services providers and staffing companies now also focus on ‘talent supply as a service’ to GCCs in particular, Karanth adds.
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According to Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, Partner at advisory firm Catalincs, given that GCCs do not incur sales and marketing costs and are operationally quite efficient at scale, they have larger investable dollars to upskill and reskill their employees. “These strategic investments not only drive higher levels of productivity but also help develop AI-first products, platforms and solutions that drive new revenue opportunities.“
A. Sowmyanarayanan, Regional Director, Information Technology, Lennox India, says the primary focus must be on advancing talent at the senior technical level, particularly for Architects and Principals. With a strong pool of junior talent, now is the time to strategically invest in the skill development of our senior experts, he said.
Satish Kannan, CPO, EMEA and APAC at Bounteous X Accolite says that as demand for specialised digital and new-age skills continues to rise, companies are making significant investments in attracting top talent and driving reskilling initiatives. Organisations with a well-aligned L&D framework and talent strategy will be better positioned to upskill their workforce and build a robust talent pipeline, he added.
