How can Global Capability Centers continuously reinvent to deliver value?

In brief

• High performing GCCs go beyond cost and operational excellence; they constantly strive for performance improvement and delivering value across the entire enterprise
• Global Capability Centers (GCCs) can achieve this by adopting a culture of continuous improvement, focusing on improvements in efficiency, effectiveness, and experience

Over the years, GCCs have emerged as organizational engines to drive cost reduction through business consolidation and operational excellence. However, with evolving competition and customer needs, GCCs need to rethink strategies to consistently deliver value across business, talent, and innovation. This requires GCCs to continually reinvent themselves through a relentless focus on performance improvement across the three Es. The first being Efficiency, where GCCs develop strategies to increase output with fewer resources and assets. Effectiveness involves consistently delivering accurate, high-quality, and streamlined business processes. And lastly, in Experience, GCCs invest in elevating the satisfaction of internal and external stakeholders. 

Exploring dimensions for GCC excellence

To achieve continuous improvement, GCC organizations should strategically concentrate on five dimensions. These are:

• People: It is essential for GCCs to define a robust people strategy, cultivate the right competencies & skills, and adeptly manage talent costs and attrition
• Process: It involves benchmarking operational maturity, evaluating performance against peers and industry best practices, and identifying more efficient ways of working
• Technology: GCCs should assess the utilization of tools, drive higher technology adoption, and achieve transformative outcomes without disproportionately increasing technology costs
• Data: Maintaining data hygiene, consolidating and analyzing enterprise data, and embedding robust data governance practices
• Governance: Demands the identification of roles and the establishment of a disciplined cadence, contributing to overall governance effectiveness and a superior stakeholder experience

Global Capability Centers (GCCs) organizations deploy four improvement levers across the key dimensions discussed above to simplify their operations, reduce redundancy, increase quality, enhance satisfaction, and improve consistency and productivity. Firstly, through Consolidation, organizations combine and centralize roles, processes, technologies, and data for more efficient operations. Optimization, the second lever, involves process improvements and waste elimination through six sigma and lean initiatives. Standardization, as the third lever, includes establishing and streamlining common enterprise-wide policies and procedures. Lastly, Transformation, the fourth lever, focuses on driving innovation through the adoption of next-gen tools and technologies, ensuring organizations stay at the forefront of industry advancements.

Structured frameworks can help GCCs streamline value delivered from performance improvement initiatives. The approach should focus on identifying and enhancing performance across the four levers, which are deployed across the five GCC dimensions.