Pankaj Phatarphod , managing director & country head of services, RBS India, talks to Oommen A. Ninan on what has helped global captives or Global In-house Centres (GICs), which give back-end systems support to their parent companies, stay afloat among big players such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro. India is home to more than 1,000 GICs with combined export revenue in excess of $19 billion in 2015.
How has the journey been for GICs from being supporters of back-office software projects to being strategic business functions?
Three key elements have characterized this journey, a deepening of the relationship between the GICs and the parent organisation, based on trust, senior executive support and a demonstration of consistent delivery and innovation by the GIC, a shared goal constantly reiterated — for example in our case to be the number one in customer service, trust and advocacy by 2020 in the markets we operate — enabling the GIC to steer beyond a mere ‘delivery of service level KPIs’ to being an integral part of the customer journey, focussed on business outcomes.
Having the right tools and frameworks in place for quality, right from the early stages of the GIC set up and an evolved model to attract, retain and develop talent at all levels has stood us in good stead.
While most IT companies are reworking their business model to survive automation and protectionist tendencies in major markets, how do the GICs stay relevant?
Every industry has its set of challenges and so do GICs in this complex environment. GICs will continue to play a key role if we stay obsessed with our customer, foster non-linear thinking, develop our people and leaders in vital skills that drive change, interpret data and create a digital mindset. More importantly, it’s never a ‘them (parent) versus us (GIC)’ environment. We need to look globally to resolve the challenges an organisation may face, best-shore as a location strategy and not necessarily limited to a cost benefit, our ability to collaborate, unlock employee creativity and bring a sense of urgency to all that we do, will make us deliver great value to our customers.
Should GICs be seen as a threat to traditional large Indian outsourcing companies such as TCS and Infosys?
Not at all. Each one brings specific advantages to the table and since a while now, a joint service delivery model has also been in place in various organisations, quite often to accelerate value for the parent organisation. GICs, at times, engage service providers in implementation support on various large programmes e.g. for robotics, process automation, co-creation of delivery centres with a hybrid construct, carving out work to service providers.
What makes the Indian operations stand out among other global peers?
The leadership position that India has enjoyed is to be valued, nurtured and strengthened. The demographic dividend in this country (our millennials are 600+million) provides an expansive pool of talent across various fields including research & development, technology services, financial skills etc. governmental and institutional support continues to play its part. The ecosystem in India of technology development, product innovation, data analytics and operations brings a formidable scale and scope advantage to the sub-continent.
GICs have continued to increase their headcount in the past five years, will the current automation trend see an impact on jobs?
I would look at it differently, our world is becoming increasingly digital, our customer needs a mortgage... ‘now’. To meet the changing needs of our customers in an environment that is increasingly regulated as well, we need to simplify the way we operate and offer our customers a service at a time and place convenient to him/her in a transparent manner.
There are exciting times ahead in interpreting what our data tells us about our customer, how quickly can we provide our client that magic moment, how seamless is our delivery.
However, all this rests on the bedrock of service excellence and innovation. And that’s why we need people i.e. people who bring their talent and a passion to join this journey…sure there will be challenges but people who are ready to ride the wave…will find their place and thrive.
Organisations do have to take tough decisions from time to time and hence people development is crucial …it is imperative that GICs build fit-for-future capabilities in their organisations, given the pace of change.
What are the challenges IT industry and GICs in particular be prepared for in the foreseeable future?
The pace and landscape of change (be it policy changes, market fluctuations, customer and employee expectations etc.) is a great opportunity for GICs and the IT industry to support enterprises on their growth path. Customer experience must be at the centre of our operating model. Analytics will help us see what really matters to our customer, reducing complexity in our delivery will help optimise service where we do not just focus on individual touch-points but ‘walk’ the journey with the customer. Skill development and technology-build to be aligned towards this journey. A great customer experience — if that’s a challenge that we turn into an opportunity — will help us not only sustain our current significance but will, in fact, create new sources of value.
