HFS & RSI: An AI-native GCC that beats HQ productivity by 40%

Top three takeaways

• Mid-market GCC is the deliberate focus. RSI comes at this as a product and platform engineering firm of 30-plus years serving ISVs and enterprises, now pursuing that same work in an AI-first, AI-native way. Its GCC Co-Pilot offering runs the full lifecycle, from the earliest conversations about whether to set a center up, through standing it up and operating it, to transforming it into something AI-native — with EXIQO Studio used to turn talent into an AI-native workforce.
• Clients are now setting the productivity bar above headquarters. In a healthcare GCC set up recently, the client stipulated from the outset that because this was being built AI-native, productivity had to run 30 to 40% higher than headquarters. Chawla says RSI hit that inside six months, and that practices developed in the new center were then exported back to headquarters. For existing centers, RSI deploys pods into client systems under what it calls the C-Osmosis model.
• The direction of travel is outcomes and co-creation rather than operational metrics. GCCs now carry bigger mandates, are no longer cost centers, and are conceiving products from the beginning to serve high-growth geographies. Chawla expects larger teams to stop being the order of the day, displaced by a focus on business outcomes and on reimagining products into agentic flows — which puts the onus on the partner to co-create rather than simply deliver.

Achyuta Ghosh — Executive Research Leader, HFS Research[00:22]

Hello and welcome to this HFS videocast with Ashok Chawla, Co-Chief Delivery Officer at R Systems — now rechristened as RSI. RSI was recently recognized as a Horizon 2 player in the HFS GCC Services Horizons report that we recently launched. Congratulations, Ashok, on that. I want to know a little bit more, so I have a few questions. Would you like to share a little more about what the RSI GCC portfolio of solutions looks like today?

Ashok Chawla — Co-Chief Delivery Officer, RSI[01:00]

Yeah. So first of all, thank you very much for having me here, and thank you very much for the recognition, which clearly is a recognition for what we’re doing in the GCC space. For us, mid-market GCC is the main segment that we really thrive on, and that’s our forte. We are a product and platform engineering company, and in this space we’ve been around 30-plus years, serving a lot of ISVs as well as enterprises in building their platforms. We’re continuing that journey now in a more AI-first, AI-native manner.

And for GCCs, anyone who’s looking to set up a GCC — we have an offering called GCC Co-Pilot, which, in a way, is helping them right from the stage where they want to set up this GCC, all those discussions, and then finally getting into how they will have the teams in India, first set up their GCC, then start operating it, and start transforming it, and ultimately getting into a phase where we can actually make it more AI-native and then even build transformation for them.

And for this, we have our studio called EXIQO Studio, which is an AI-first studio. Here, we help our talent get transformed into a more AI-native workforce, which is used for the GCC system.

Achyuta Ghosh — Executive Research Leader, HFS Research[02:10]

Thank you, Ashok, for explaining your product portfolio. But what about your clients? What’s the feedback on the RSI solutions that have been implemented so far?

Ashok Chawla — Co-Chief Delivery Officer, RSI[02:22]

Yeah. So any GCC that you are setting up, or even on the scale side — as I mentioned, they are looking for this AI-native, AI-first approach, and looking for those efficiencies. Let me give you an example. We recently set up a GCC for one of the healthcare firms. It has scaled to a good number now. From the beginning, there was an ask for the headquarters was operating at a certain level of productivity, but when they came to us, they said clearly: we are setting this up as an AI-native thing, so the productivity has to be at least 30 to 40% higher than the headquarters. And not only did we manage to deliver that for them — and this happened within a six-month period of time — a lot of the good practices that were done here were exported back to the headquarters as well, and this entire team is now becoming more of an AI-first approach.

Even in the case of scale-up, where people already have a GCC, and they are transforming their workforce into an AI-native one, a similar kind of catalyst is required. We have a model where we go ahead and deploy our pods into their systems. This is called the C-Osmosis model, where we go and transform their teams. And this is again an offering which is very, very popular. On both sides, the thing is, they have a certain productivity outcome in mind and certain times they are also looking to infuse AI into the products, where we come and help them. That’s another offering which we have for a couple of GCCs, which is very, very popular.

Achyuta Ghosh — Executive Research Leader, HFS Research[03:44]

So Ashok, you are also responsible for all GCC business and delivery for RSI. You would be on top of the future roadmap of the solutions that you’re developing. So could you share a little more about how it looks over the next three years for you?

Ashok Chawla — Co-Chief Delivery Officer, RSI[03:59]

Absolutely. So first of all, as I mentioned, most of the GCC players are not looking at operational metrics any more. They are looking more at outcomes. GCCs also have bigger mandates now, where they are no longer a cost center. They are also thinking of building future products, serving customers in the geographies where a lot of growth is happening. They are conceiving products from the beginning.

So for us, it’s no more operational metrics — it’s all outcomes. And co-creation is another area, where we can come and suggest what we’ve done on other sides, and bring those features and another way of reimagining a product into more of an agentic flow. I think that’s what we are really helping with, and I see this trend is going to continue.

AI is going to rule the roost for the foreseeable future, but slowly, slowly you will see it’s not bigger teams that will be the order of the day. It’s basically what exactly are the business outcomes you’re looking for, and also reimagining the entire thing. How can you reimagine your product for the future and stay ahead of the competition? That’s something people look at. And as a GCC partner, we are supposed to think on the same lines and be a partner in co-creation and in delivering those outcomes for them.

Achyuta Ghosh — Executive Research Leader, HFS Research[05:10]

Thank you. And congratulations once again, Ashok, for being a Horizon 2 player for us in the GCC Services Horizons and loved this interaction, and look forward to more with you.

Ashok Chawla — Co-Chief Delivery Officer, RSI[05:22]

Same here. Thank you. Thank you, Achyuta, for having me.