AI will redefine jobs, shift employees toward higher-value work centred on critical thinking, supervision and domain expertise, and create demand for AI-native capabilities. In an exclusive conversation, Dipanwita Ghosh, Head of Consulting, Embark outlines to Rajneesh De, Group Editor, APAC Media & CXO Media how they are helping clients translate these shifts into role and organization redesign, as well as reskilling and building hiring roadmaps. The objective is to ensure AI-driven productivity gains are reinvested into higher-value capabilities.
How is Embark helping enterprises rethink GCCs in the AI era, and what are they prioritising beyond traditional cost and talent considerations?
The GCC conversation is moving decisively from cost and headcount to capability, productivity and enterprise value. At Embark, we help enterprises define what their India centre/GCC should own, not simply how many people it should employ. Our AI transformation research and experience working with enterprises indicate that leading GCCs are already moving toward AI-assisted, AI-first and AI-native ways of working, with impact increasingly measured through business outcomes rather than FTE growth.
We help enterprises design, build and operationalise an AI-ready GCCs by defining what capabilities should sit within the centre, identifying which workflows should be automated or AI-augmented, and where human judgement remains essential. We then translate this into the required talent, technology, governance and operating model, working alongside the client’s business and technology teams and specialist partners where required.
The objective is to build future-ready GCCs that are AI-enabled from day one and capable of owning products, platforms, engineering and business outcomes end-to-end, while continuously evolving their roles, processes and capabilities.
Based on Embark’s experience setting up GCCs, what needs to fundamentally change across architecture, talent, and operating models to build an AI-native GCC?
An AI-native GCC requires a fundamental shift across three dimensions. Architecture needs to evolve beyond isolated AI use cases toward reusable AI platforms and strong data and technology foundations, with the right integration, security, monitoring and governance in place to enable AI to be deployed consistently and scaled across business workflows. Our study shows that the most valuable emerging talent sits at this intersection, alongside new roles in AI engineering, architecture, governance and agent operations.
Operating models must evolve to be more outcome-driven, with AI-enabled workflows, flatter structures, clearer accountability and stronger governance. Productivity should be measured through delivery velocity, quality, speed-to-market, capacity released and measurable business outcomes, rather than FTE efficiency alone.
Embark’s role is to translate these principles into the GCC’s design and build, embedding the right people, processes, technology and governance from the outset while creating the foundation for long-term transformation.
As AI agents reshape engineering teams and reduce traditional layers of management, how is Embark helping enterprises rethink their GCC talent and organisational structures?
AI is fundamentally changing how GCCs are structured – where human talent creates the most value. Traditional organizational pyramids are expected to flatten into more capability-led structures, with routine execution roles compressed while domain expertise, judgement and end-to-end ownership gain importance. The ability to identify the right problems and frame them effectively will become as important as solving them, with an understanding of the end-to-end value chain emerging as a key differentiator.
Our study indicates that AI will redefine jobs, shifting employees toward higher-value work centred on critical thinking, supervision and domain expertise, while creating demand for AI-native capabilities such as AI Platform Engineering, Agent Orchestration, FinOps, Model Governance, Observability, Enterprise Architecture and Cybersecurity.
At Embark, we help clients translate these shifts into role and organization redesign, reskilling and building hiring roadmaps. While enterprise trust will determine the pace of transition toward autonomous operating models, the objective is to ensure AI-driven productivity gains are reinvested into higher-value capabilities – moving GCCs from headcount-led growth to value-led-growth.
What is driving the shift of India GCCs from execution hubs to centres of product, technology, and architecture leadership, and how is Embark enabling this transition?
India’s GCC evolution is being driven by three structural advantages:
- Deep engineering and AI talent: India’s increasingly AI-fluent talent pool enables enterprises to build and scale complex technology and business capabilities cost-efficiently.
- AI-led productivity: AI-driven productivity allows enterprises to reinvest capacity into higher-value capabilities, accelerating India’s mandate beyond execution.
- Global delivery resilience: India’s mature GCC ecosystem and strong business continuity capabilities support complex, long-term global mandates.
This is driving enterprises to internalize strategic capabilities, consolidate global delivery into fewer, larger centres, and move global roles and decision-making to India. At Embark, we enable this transition through capability portfolio, operating model, organisation design, talent and location strategy. Increasingly we are supporting enterprises in establishing AI centric capabilities through quick AI PoC-s. We are enabling setting and scaling AI and Innovation led CoEs. This accelerates GCC’s shift from execution to strategic ownership of global products, platforms and business outcomes.
How does Embark’s revenue model work, and what are the key pillars of its go-to-market strategy as it looks to scale its GCC business?
Embark’s model spans the full GCC lifecycle – Design, Build, Operate and Transform, making GCC setup a starting point rather than a one-time transaction. Our proposition focuses on providing an integrated GCC advisory, setup and operating ecosystem spanning talent solutions, branding, compliance and legal, real estate and workspace, managed services and program governance. Clients can engage us at the strategy stage, during setup and build, or as a long-term partner supporting operations and transformation.
Our go-to-market is anchored on advisory-led entry, integrated execution and long-term transformation. We offer flexibility across end-to-end GCC programs and targeted point solutions, including BOT, Assisted-Build, EOR models, complemented by specialist ecosystem partners where required. This creates a natural progression from strategy to execution to transformation, while reducing the complexity of managing multiple providers. Ultimately, our objective is to help clients establish faster, scale with confidence and continuously increase the enterprise value of their GCCs.
