Reimagining the Global Competency Center for a Value-Led, Future-Ready Era

The global competency center (GCC) market is entering a new phase of maturity, wherein enterprises are rethinking the foundations of global delivery amid tightening labor markets, eroding cost arbitrage, and a more complex geopolitical and regulatory landscape. GCC mandates are progressively expanding beyond transactional support into digital engineering, R&D, and innovation-led work, with workforce strategies tilting toward specialist and analytical bands that anchor higher-value enterprise priorities. New operating models, including GCC-as-a-Service, hub-and-spoke, AI-native, and outcome-led constructs, are emerging alongside traditional captive and BOT setups, while tightening data, AI, and cross-border regulations are pushing compliance, entity structuring, and location intelligence into Day Zero design choices. Mid-market and PE-backed enterprises are also launching lean, competency-anchored centers from inception. To navigate this shift, enterprises should partner with service providers to accelerate GCC setup and scale through competency depth, multilocation resilience, and regulatory-ready design for sustained, future-ready growth.

Both demand- and supply-side trends are covered in Avasant’s Global Competency Center (GCC) Setup and Scale Services 2026 Market Insights™ and Global Competency Center (GCC) Setup and Scale Services 2026 RadarView™, respectively. These reports present a comprehensive study of service providers in the GCC setup and scale space, including top trends, analysis, and recommendations. The reports also closely examine the leaders, innovators, disruptors, challengers, and tech pioneers in this market.

Avasant evaluated 65 providers using two dimensions: practice maturity and future-proofing. Of the 65 providers, we recognized 23 that brought the most value to the market during the past 12 months.

The report recognizes service providers in five categories:

• • Leaders: Accenture, ANSR, Capgemini, Cognizant, EY, HCLTech, Infosys, and TCS
  • Innovators: Deloitte, Genpact, PwC, and Wipro
  • Disruptors: IBM, ITC Infotech, KPMG, LTM, and Tech Mahindra
  • Challengers: Aeries Technology, Coforge, Embark, Pyramid Consulting, and Zinnov
  • Tech Pioneers: Randstad Digital

Figure 1 below from the full report illustrates these categories:

“As skills scarcity, cost convergence, and geopolitical fragmentation reshape global delivery, the traditional cost-center model is giving way to business value-creating GCC hubs,” said Robert Joslin, managing partner at Avasant. “GCCs must scale through modular operating models with resilience built in from Day Zero.”

The full reports provide a number of findings, including the following:

• • As GCCs expand into higher-value mandates, their role is strengthening from transactional support toward driving enterprise revenue and innovation.
  • GCC talent strategies are actively shifting toward specialized digital and AI roles as strategic mandates expand.
  • As GCCs grow in scale and maturity, leadership depth is expanding with a greater share of leaders driving global mandates.
  • Evolving market dynamics are fundamentally pushing enterprises to rethink how they operate their GCCs.
  • GCC location strategy now weighs resilience alongside cost, as global instability and enterprise risk priorities converge to reshape setup decisions.
  • Mid-market and PE-owned enterprises are emerging as a distinct GCC adopter cohort, anchoring centers to specific capability outcomes rather than cost arbitrage.

“Service providers are reshaping how enterprises set up and scale GCCs,” said Rohan Sahoo, lead analyst at Avasant. “Through structured setup frameworks, AI-ready operating models, and benchmark-led location and talent choices, they are enabling resilient, future-ready competency hubs.”

The RadarView also features detailed profiles of 23 service providers, along with their solutions, offerings, and experience, in assisting GCCs in the setup and scale journey.

This Research Byte is a brief overview of Avasant’s Global Competency Center (GCC) Setup and Scale Services 2026 Market Insights™ and Global Competency Center (GCC) Setup and Scale Services 2026 RadarView™ (click for pricing).