“Co creation is the art of the possible”

Global Co creation Capability Centres (GC3 pronounced as GC Cube, a.k.a full service version of Global In-house Centres) setup-scaled-managed over the past few decades and now transformed in India are playing a key role in co-creating the enterprise of the future and can offer Innovation Platform as a service to the parent enterprise. Steeper value is released in my experience north of c. 30% beyond traditional direct costs arbitrage. Global enterprises may not have had a first mover advantage when they set up a conventional offshore back office. That, however, lends in itself an opportunity for an evolved Global in house centre to learn from its experience, others’ mistakes and leapfrog to transform into a GC3. It is possible to build a truly global and cross functional intelligent and innovative GC3offshore organisation leveraging the platform and capabilities an enterprise has. Global players have built managed services in India that typically account for c.10 – 20 % of their overall global footprint (is passé) leveraging low cost arbitrage models, whereas these in-house capability centres can co create deeper value and deliver transformation beyond originally mandated! That’s the art of the possible achieved through empowering the human capital of your capability centres to fully own and be accountable for the functions they manage, and for their respective parent enterprises to encourage active collaboration – experimentation culture to co create the future! (A word of caution: Good is the enemy of best, and the best is the enemy of better… give space to your GC3 leaders to stretch their boundaries whilst the enterprise readies to embrace the new world order.)

Initially a perceived strategic value through outsourcing is delivered by creatively examining the process and significantly changing the way it is actually performed. It is more than just changing who is performing the process or where it is performed. The new world order requires every in-house offshore capability to transform into a GC3, which is not only to own the delivery of the function or business process, but to commit its human capital to transform the way it is done. That will include leaders envisioning and building newer and efficient relationships among the basic building blocks of any enterprise i.e., data, human, technology & process either by putting in new age work tools to accomplish the process or optimising the existing in a new way to improve the customer or user experience. GC3 is designed to enhance employee engagement, co create wealth and shareholder value, and customer’s delight.

 Typical characteristics of GC3 adopters:

“Facing Change”. Functional back offices exist to support a company's strategic vision and core operations. However, strategic direction can change overnight through mergers, acquisitions, consolidations, and divestitures. Changing your functional back offices may seem impossible due to the inertia they gather over growing years, hence adopting a GC3 design for your key front office support, operations, finance & accounting, human resources and information technology functions enables rapid scalability & transformation of efficient middle / back office processes.

  “In Pain”. Dissatisfied staff (high turnover, absence of leadership), fragmented and manual processes, no data discipline and outdated technology tools plague the back / middle office of any leading franchises. Vanilla Co-location is a bad choice, adopting a GC3 design for your key front office support, operations, finance & accounting, human resources and information technology functions can quickly address the pains (read high cost of operations) of the middle / back office with minimal capital investment.

 “Finding Focus”. An hour a day spent by a manager in high cost locations in resolving middle / back office issues is an hour wasted away from the core aspects of a franchise’s business and loss of profitability. You know the arithmetic and the multiplier effect this has leading to a regressive culture, adopting a GC3 design for your key front office support, operations, accounting, human resources and information technology functions means that strategically leaders / executives can focus valuable time and resources on revenue generating activities that matter most to co create wealth for the shareholders & the market.

World business community today is witnessing the rapid emergence of a new global economic order which is redefining the future of “Effort – Operative – Setup” (i.e., EOS) in other words work, worker and workplace. Our world is changing because of digitisation, it’s getting non-linear, exponential, high-speed, more complex and volatile, changed human preferences as simplified in table below:

 It is worth recapitulating that the old world used water and steam power to mechanise production, electric power to create mass production, electronics and information technology to automate production. And, now we are progressing this digital age that has been occurring since the last four decades more prominently. Its features are, convergence of both old & new age technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological orbs. To succeed in this new world order, enterprises will need to retool their operations by adaptations and make them more frictionless, flexible, frugal, fast and forward…

… remember the five interlocking rings, coloured blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field, known as the "Olympic rings" with the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "faster, higher, stronger". The new world is even more inter-dependent and inter-connected this requires “Humans” to collaborate more, be inclusive pioneers, try something new….be bold, experiment, fail, learn, un-learn, re-learn and seek user feedback. Tune in … co create through adopting a GC3 design is the art of the possible.

Note: Global Co creation Capability Centres (GC3 pronounced as GC Cube) are terminologies coined by the author for his use in this article and his thought leadership.