If you are one of those thinking that robots and automation are eventually going to take the world’s jobs, think again.

Korn Ferry’s latest study “The Future of Work” predicts global labor shortages of 85.2 million skilled workers by 2030, resulting in lost revenue opportunities of $8.452 trillion – the combined GDP of Germany and Japan.

The study also shows how there might even be surplus of talent in 2020 but the numbers will quickly go south. As per Korn Ferry, the United States could be facing a deficit of more than 6 million workers, and it’s worse in Japan, Indonesia, and Brazil, each of which could have shortages of up to 18 million skilled workers.

The talent giant further states that “in tech alone, the US could lose out on $162 billion worth of revenues annually unless it finds more high-tech workers.”

On the contrary, India is likely to further cement its tech dominance. The study suggest that the country could have a surplus of more than 1 million high-skilled tech workers by 2030.

For organizations looking to leverage talent in India, time is ripe for setting up their technology and innovation hub or Global Capability Center (GCC).

Here’s a quick overview on the scope and true impact of GCCs.

The GCC Model

A GCC is typically setup in an overseas lower cost location. But unlike the offshore centers of yesteryears whose only aim was to save costs, setting up a GCC today is a strategic move aimed at enhancing capability and capacity.

There is a high level of accountability and ownership as a successful GCC works towards the same set of business goals as the parent company. Everything from policies, processes, values, and culture are aligned between the two units.

GCCs vs Outsourcing

Outsourcing gets lower costs, but you also lose control over people and operational efficiency as there is not ownership of the outsourced operations. More importantly, you do not have employees that are aligned with your business objectives.

What makes a GCC successful

A strong business location, access to talent, and the right local partners. For e.g. India has broad and deep talent expertise across industries and domains such as technology, analytics, digital and business functions. It offers the right mix of cost and capability that can be truly transformative for a company, however, setting up and scaling in a new country is not easy especially for companies with limited global experience.

The right partner can help evaluate your current capabilities and operations and assess the GCC opportunity. A partner can also significantly reduce the time in setting up the GCC as they already have the resources necessary for setting up a center. Finally, for a GCC much like any strategic initiative, it is imperative for senior leadership to own and drive the GCC.

We would love to hear your thoughts or questions on this topic. Email us at [email protected] to start a conversation.