GCCs coming out on top in a Perfect Storm
- Emerging Technology
- Professional Skills
A Perfect Storm - that is what we are in when it comes to digital transformation and the surge in the use of digital tools.
While the digital tool adoption was low pre-pandemic, natural demand picked up rocket speed after 2020 to enable seamless collaboration required in Global Capability Centers (GCCs) and other operations worldwide. This trend was not limited to large MNCs and their GCCs. It also caught the imagination of the product companies increasingly going customer-centric to grow their top line. In the Indian economy, the success story of UPI transactions crossing US $1 Trillion in FY22(Source: Outlook) indicates a clear case of how India’s youth have embraced the digital technology advancements of the Fintech industry and such technologies have reached the grassroots.
During the pandemic, the world witnessed an increase in the demand for new digital technology skills. India and its 1300+ GCCs have been at the forefront of leading this change in several areas including FinTech, AI, and RPA. The rampant adoption of the new-age digital tools has cut down the learning curve of the customers as well. The pandemic has, in a way, led customers and businesses alike to adopt these skillsets and tools to not only survive but to thrive. Increasingly the GCCs are accelerating their digital transformation journey to create a workplace-of-the future that may potentially involve gig platforms to deliver high-end work and enable total collaboration models irrespective of the location of their workforce.
The India Advantage / What does the external environment have in store for India as a Global Digital Hub:
The recent geopolitical developments in Eastern Europe have notionally reaffirmed India as a promising location for new digital skills. India has already been established as a reliable and innovative global delivery hub for numerous global organizations. This number is only going to increase by the year with many others planning their global delivery centers in Indian cities.
How could India emerge as the go-to place for digital skills?
The key is to tap India’s demographic dividend t to ride this digital wave for high-growth areas. We need to ensure that this talent pool is skilled in the latest and best technologies. There’s abundant talent inflow, however, there seem to be fewer finishing schools. Changing this requires a fundamental shift in the way educational and training institutions are run. The youth need to be oriented to suit the workplace or business reality.
Adaptability coaching or training is key for this high potential talent to make an easy switch into the delivery mode. The GCCs require this speed to meet the expectations of the parent organizations. Our fresh graduates need those essential soft skills, business knowledge training and coaching that would make them an easy fit for GCC requirements. FutureSkills Prime is the National Digital skilling platform that offers certification courses in emerging technologies and professional skills like Communication and Collaboration along with government incentives to eligible candidates.
Conclusion
Educational institutions could help the technology ecosystem by staying in sync with the likes of NASSCOM, State and Central governments to assess the skill requirements of the future. Institutions need to reach the masses in terms of technology adoption by maintaining the current pace or probably Uberizing the outreach, which in turn could turn into a ‘poster child’ for global adoption of Indian technology tools.
It may also be valid to note the way technology has revolutionized the hiring and training areas with AI and RPA. The learning systems have come a long way to handle the demand for scaled-up L&D requirements with the increased number of technology tools available.
AI identifies the knowledge gap and suggests relevant learning content to close the gap with personalized learning experiences driven by learning systems and tools. RPA can be leveraged across the entire learning lifecycle and automate key tasks and complex roles of the regular trainers.
What GCCs need to do is to revisit their hiring processes, talent development, etc. to quickly adapt to the dynamic talent landscape. It’s a welcome trend that GCCs hired freshers rampantly during the pandemic and adopted better training operations to bring the fresh grads up to speed on new technology skills with greater agility.
Written by Sandeep Sharma, Country Manager & Managing Director, RealPage India