GCCs offer parent enterprises a viable third option for AI talent

Enterprise leaders seeking top AI talent are becoming used to the need to have a presence where the AI talent gathers, or for the need to offer remote work options in order to access global talent pools. But a third option is emerging—if parent firms’ global capability centers (GCCs) can respond to the opportunity India’s ambitious AI-hungry talent affords them.

• The battle for AI talent is truly global, but our data for AI-related job postings (see Exhibit 1) shows a heavy concentration in global tech hubs such as the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, London, Toronto, and Beijing. This concentration is forcing firms to build a presence in those cities or reluctantly offer remote work options.
• A third choice is emerging. Indian cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad rank highly in our data—illustrating an opportunity for the rise of AI-powered GCCs in these and other Indian locations. Phil Fersht and Saurabh Gupta recently noted in their HFS blog post GCCs: The direction Indian IT must take to pivot from cost to value that such centers can be a wise way for parent enterprises to “embrace India’s blossoming AI talent.” HFS believes no region in the world comes close to India for developing talent at scale—who can also learn the latest GenAI and machine learning tools—thanks to the nation’s booming startup ecosystem and large numbers of ambitious college graduates.
• There is global evidence of a boom of interest in AI-related roles since ChatGPT made its public appearance in November 2022 (see Exhibit 2). The purple line in Exhibit 2 illustrates the relative volume of Google searches for ‘jobs in AI.’ Interest in that term took off in November 2022 and keeps rising—closing the gap to the much broader ‘jobs in tech’ (orange line). Leaders must emphasize development opportunities in AI to attract the most ambitious and future-facing talent.

The Bottom Line: Prepare to look to GCCs for process optimization, prediction, and strategic support.

If GCCs can pivot from a people-centric model to a technology-centric one—powered by access to pools of AI talent—then enterprise leaders must prepare to see them as more than support centers. Placing the AI front and center in a new model will enable GCCs to help optimize processes, predict market trends, and respond to consumer needs to create new revenue streams for their parent businesses.