Cybersecurity has emerged as a top priority for Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in India, with 76% investing heavily in this area, according to the EY India GCC Pulse Survey 2024. The report highlights that 82% of GCCs believe it is crucial to enhance cybersecurity awareness among employees while implementing robust cybersecurity policies and procedures.
The increasing risk of confidential information leaks due to cyber-attacks and data breaches is a significant concern for GCCs. With prolonged hybrid and remote work expanding the attack surface, security intelligence and monitoring have become a priority for 73% of GCCs.
While cybersecurity leads the focus, Generative AI (GenAI) is the second priority for GCCs at 70%, underscoring the rise of AI adoption in enterprises. The EY report suggests that India has the potential to add between US$359 billion and US$438 billion to its GDP by 2029-30 due to GenAI adoption, over and above baseline estimates.
According to the survey, 69% of firms plan to leverage GenAI capabilities in customer experience, making it the primary area of focus. GenAI is gaining traction among GCCs, with many adopting it in customer interaction functions due to its ease of implementation and potential to boost efficiency. Applications include automated chatbots, personalized support, and sentiment analysis.
Operations is the second area of focus, with 57% of GCCs aiming to leverage GenAI, followed by IT and cybersecurity at 47%. Product development, finance, HR, sales, and marketing were also identified as key areas for GenAI adoption.
Many GCCs are already deploying use cases to enhance efficiency, with 78% upskilling internal teams and 49% collaborating with external vendors to accelerate transformation. GCCs are actively working on innovation, with 37% prioritizing piloting use cases and advancing to a stage where they are realizing tangible benefits by deploying solutions at scale.
While 21% are exploring the benefits of GenAI, another 21% are deploying several use cases. About 10% are evaluating GenAI in the upcoming months, and only 8% say it is not a priority at this stage.
According to the report, for 51% of GCCs, growth is increasingly reliant on technology rather than expanding headcount, with a clear emphasis on reskilling staff in emerging areas such as AI. The report finds that data and analytics skills are essential to GCCs, with strong demand for integrating these skills into service offerings.
Furthermore, 76% of firms are integrating talent from GCCs into core global innovation teams, while 78% are upskilling their internal teams to facilitate GenAI adoption.
Arindam Sen, Partner and GCC Sector Leader – Technology, Media & Telecommunications, EY India, said, “As GCCs prioritize talent, digital transformation, and robust security frameworks, they are not only improving operational efficiency but positioning themselves as global innovation hubs.”
“Organisations adopting GenAI across business units need to overcome key implementation challenges across scalability, legacy systems, inconsistent data quality (both input & output) and privacy,” said Subir Mehra, Partner and GCC Sector Leader – Financial Services, EY India.