India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are at a pivotal growth juncture — delivering consistent double-digit CAGR and rapidly evolving from cost-efficient back offices into strategic innovation engines. With forecasts pointing to even stronger growth if GCC–HQ alignment deepens, the role of strategic advisory firms has never been more critical. As GCCs recalibrate from aggressive hiring to AI-enabled learning, sustainable talent pipelines, and innovation-led mandates, leaders are navigating complex challenges — from balancing optimism and fear around AI to embedding next-gen L&D models. In this conversation, Mohith Mohan, CEO & Founder, MOAR Advisory explains in great details to Sugandh Vij, Ass. Editor APAC & CXO Media on how the GCC advisory firms are enabling GCC leaders to maximise potential, foster innovation, and shape the next wave of the sector’s evolution.
- How is your advisory firm guiding GCC leadership to strengthen alignment between GCC and HQ to unlock full growth potential?
At MOAR Advisory our team of advisors are all practitioners and we bring the unique blend of strategic consulting and solutioning that work for GCC’s. Across our portfolio, one pattern stands out: GCCs that have true alignment with their headquarters deliver value that is 40% higher than those still stuck in a traditional delivery mindset. The difference? It’s a fundamental shift, from focusing purely on operations to thinking strategically as an embedded growth partner within the enterprise agenda.
We help make this shift happen through two key interventions:
First, we understand company’s key strategic priorities and establish integrated business planning, where GCC and HQ co-own goals tied directly to P&L outcomes, not just operational metrics. When both teams share the same revenue targets and growth objectives, strategic conversations become natural and aligned.
Second, we design governance and decision-making frameworks that enhance accountability and give GCC leaders genuine authority over innovation, technology investments, and capability building. Once HQ starts seeing the GCC as a strategic lever rather than just a cost center, investments increase, decision making gets localized, and global roles start emerging from the GCC.
Third, we promote a culture of collaboration
We’ve guided multiple GCCs through this transformation and seen measurable, lasting results.
- How are advisory firms helping GCCs transition into full-fledged innovation hubs, and what talent strategies are most effective?
Clear innovation mandate from HQ:
We work with leadership to secure explicit innovation commitments from headquarters, including dedicated budgets and leadership accountability. For example, one client we partnered with formalized their innovation charter, which led to a 30% increase in innovation project funding within a year, shifting innovation from side projects to a core business focus.
- Cross-functional teams with full responsibility:
We design and implement team structures where multidisciplinary teams including product owners, design experts, and technical engineers jointly own the full lifecycle, from problem definition to product launch. This approach helped a major GCC reduce time-to-market by 25% and launch multiple market-ready solutions. - The right talent mix – Leverage local Startup ecosystem:
By blending deep domain expertise, local market insights, and enterprise culture, we help build hybrid teams that understand both global strategy and local customer needs. Embedding these diverse skills together enabled a GCC to increase customer adoption rates by 40%, as solutions were better tailored to market realities. One key unlock is working with local tech startup ecosystem and partnering with them to co-create and work on problem statements is a true differentiator.
We also guide clients to measure success by meaningful business outcomes like revenue impact and customer adoption instead of just speed or operational metrics. This shift has turned several GCCs we advise from cost centers into key growth engines, driving measurable top-line impact.
- Which L&D models have proven most impactful as GCCs move from aggressive hiring to sustainable AI-enabled learning and internal mobility?
When scaling a GCC, the focus needs to shift from just growing headcount to developing deeper capabilities. The most successful GCCs focus on what we call ‘capability compounding’ – which means continuously increasing the strategic value of each employee over time rather than just adding headcount. This is strategic and should be an intentional shift of a “Build vs Buy” approach and adopting new age AI enabled learning platforms to hyper personalize employee development. This approach builds a stronger, more agile workforce that can drive real business impact.
To support this, we help design learning frameworks built around three key layers:
- In-house Training Programs for career growth: We work with GCCs to establish structured training programs that offer employees clear, visible paths for career growth. This helps people understand what skills they need to develop to move forward within the organization, reducing the risk of talent leaving for opportunities elsewhere.
- AI-Driven Personalized Learning: Learning needs are not one-size-fits-all. We use AI-powered tools that tailor training content to each employee’s current role, projects, and skill gaps. This ensures learning is relevant, timely, and directly applicable, so employees can immediately apply new skills to their work.
- External Partnerships for Cutting-edge Skills: The world of technology and business is evolving fast. We help GCCs build relationships with industry leaders, educational institutions, and technology partners to bring in cutting-edge skills like AI, sustainability, and other emerging areas that are critical for future growth.
A crucial part of this framework is that learning is a shared responsibility. Instead of being owned only by HR, learning initiatives are co-owned by business leaders and HR teams. This collaboration ensures that career development programs align closely with what the business needs to deliver, making learning practical and impactful.
One client saw a 35% increase in internal mobility within two years because employees could clearly see growth paths without leaving. This approach creates a sustainable talent engine that supports value-first growth, not just scale and what we like to call “Learning is the new Currency” for organizations.
- How are GCCs managing the optimism-fear tension around AI, balancing upskilling, and what role do advisory firms play?
The optimism–fear divide around AI is very real and justified. At MOAR Advisory, we help GCCs approach AI adoption not just as a technology change, but as a people and culture change management.
We start with detailed, function-level assessments to understand where AI will augment tasks, automate processes, or create new roles. This helps identify who needs which skills and when.
We then help set up a clear, reskilling plan so employees know that if their roles change, they’ll have support to learn new skills and transition smoothly. Upskilling happens in stages, starting with basic AI awareness for all staff, then more advanced training for technical teams, and leadership programs to help managers lead hybrid AI-human teams.
When people see how AI can make their work more meaningful, and know they have a clear path to grow, fear eases and engagement rises. This trust and transparency are key to successful AI adoption in GCCs still building their AI capabilities.
Our philosophy is “AI will be a compass that will help steer employees’ career and provide the critical navigational capabilities to keep them on track towards organizational goals”.
- What core advisory capabilities should GCC leaders develop to stay ahead, and what trends will define the next GCC evolution?
The next generation of GCC leaders prioritize the enterprise as a whole, not just their local geography. They leverage India’s strong execution capabilities to drive global growth priorities, manage complex partner ecosystems, and make confident decisions even when the path isn’t fully clear.
We’re already seeing GCCs take on P&L responsibilities, lead enterprise-wide AI programs, and spearhead sustainability and ESG reporting. Today we have over 6000 leaders at CXO and director level who lay global roles from India and that number only going up north. The future will require leaders to own business outcomes end-to-end—not just focus on operational delivery.
To stay ahead, GCC leaders must be fluent in both business and technology, skilled at managing global stakeholders, and ready to shape strategy, not just implement it. In the next five years, the most influential GCCs will be those that headquarters trusts to design, deliver, and scale the company’s next major innovations and growth initiatives.
