India’s GCCs may build AI, but IT firms still have a role in taking it to scale

India’s global capability centres are moving beyond back-office support to take on product development, specialised technology work and innovation. That shift has raised the prospect that multinational companies could build more expertise internally, reducing their reliance on Indian IT services firms. Workato executives argue that the change is more likely to reshape the relationship than end it: GCCs can develop ideas and capabilities, while services companies help deploy them acr...

“I do not think one can really succeed without the other,” Shane Smith, Workato’s director and global head of partner success, told Analytics India Magazine.

The distinction between creating a solution and putting it to work across an enterprise is central to the argument. Deploying AI in large organisations can involve connecting models to information held across finance, customer management, procurement and other systems, while also addressing governance, legacy technology and the demands of operating across business units and countries.

David Ng, Workato’s global vice-president for partner go-to-market and alliances, said the company’s relationships with Indian IT firms are changing. Where such partners once chiefly provided delivery capacity, he said, they are increasingly valued for innovation and specialist knowledge of particular industries.

“Historically we partnered for delivery scale, but increasingly today we are partnering for the innovation our partners drive in this space,” Ng told Analytics India Magazine.

The model also offers companies a choice about which capabilities to develop themselves and which to obtain from outside. Building in-house can bring control, but requires ongoing investment and responsibility for maintenance. External partners can provide skills and resources without requiring each company to assemble every capability internally.

“GCCs need scale, and scale comes with a component of risk. You have to decide what you want to build and what you want to buy. When you build, there is an element of risk and an element of maintenance. When you buy that capability, some of that is mitigated,” Ng said.

The broader evolution of GCCs helps explain why the question is not simply whether work is done in-house or outsourced. An ACCA report on India’s centres describes their transition from cost-focused operations towards more strategic responsibilities. Finance teams, for example, are increasingly involved in process improvement, business partnering, procurement, planning and analysis, rather than concentrating chiefly on transactional accounting. The report also highlights the importance of business knowledge, leadership and collaboration between global and local teams alongside technical skills.

For AI projects, that combination of operational understanding and technology expertise is particularly important. Workato describes its platform as horizontal, with partners supplying sector-specific knowledge to apply it to particular business problems. Ng cited banking processes such as customer verification and fraud detection, retail inventory management, and opportunities in insurance.

Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and HCLTech are among the firms that can contribute implementation teams and industry experience. Their own accounts of their alliances illustrate how the arrangement works in practice, though the claims come from the companies themselves. TCS says its strategic partnership with Workato, established in 2025, combines the firms’ capabilities in enterprise orchestration. Workato has also announced a joint effort with TCS to use AI tools to help develop and document enterprise integrations. Infosys describes its Workato practice as focused on integration-led automation, while HCLTech promotes implementation frameworks, operational support and reusable tools for Workato projects.

These examples reflect the commercial logic on both sides. Technology providers gain access to services expertise and customer relationships; IT firms can bring platforms into transformation projects and earn revenue from implementation and support. Ng said Workato wants to concentrate its own investment on developing its product rather than delivering every customer project.

“We do not want to own the end-to-end implementation of our platform for every customer, because we want to continue investing in product innovation. That is where our investment should go, not into hiring more people to deliver the platform for a customer,” he said.

The arrangement does not guarantee that every partnership will succeed, or that GCCs will always need outside support. But developing a capability within one centre is different from applying it reliably across an organisation’s systems, locations and operating teams. That gap is where service providers may continue to play a role, particularly when AI moves from trials into business-critical processes.

India’s importance to that work is also reflected in the changing skill mix sought by employers. Ng said Workato is recruiting in the country for people who can combine technical ability with an understanding of business functions and industry workflows. The ACCA report similarly points to demand for professionals who can bring together digital and data skills, financial understanding and commercial judgement.

Smith said Indian IT firms had repeatedly adjusted to shifts in technology and customer expectations. Their next opportunity, however, will depend on offering more than delivery capacity: customers seeking enterprise AI will need partners able to connect systems, understand industry requirements and help turn innovation into operational change. In that model, GCCs may lead the development of new products and ideas, while Indian IT companies provide the expertise and reach to put them to work at scale.

Source: Noah Wire Services