Engineering is the new growth frontier for GCCs

As AI reshapes enterprise economics, Global Capability Centers (GCCs) are reaching an inflection point. Once optimized for cost efficiency and scale, they are now expected to own products, drive platform reliability, and deliver measurable business outcomes through engineering excellence.

From cost centers to engineering growth engines

At the HFS Summit 2026 in Bangalore, Akkodis President & CEO Jo Debecker joined HFS Research President Saurabh Gupta to discuss why engineering is moving to the center of GCC strategy.

The discussion reinforced a message Debecker introduced earlier at the World Economic Forum in Davos: 2026 marks a shift from AI experimentation to AI implementation — less hype, more measurable impact.

Many GCCs have reached the limits of labor-based efficiency. The next wave of enterprise value demands engineering depth, product ownership, and AI-enabled operations.

Many GCCs have reached the limits of labor-based efficiency

Organizations today face three critical gaps:

• Outcome gaps: Delivery metrics remain strong, but business impact is limited.
• Productization gaps: Enterprises want end-to-end platform ownership, not backlog execution.
• AI implementation gaps: Moving from exploratory pilots to scalable, governed AI systems remains a challenge.

With ~50,000 engineers worldwide, Akkodis helps enterprises transform GCCs into vertical-specific engineering growth engines powered by domain expertise and scalable IP platforms.

Why engineering now sits at the core of GCC strategy

AI is fundamentally changing the economics of work. Value is shifting from headcount-driven execution to highly skilled engineering capability embedded within business processes.

Several forces are accelerating this shift:

• Automation is compressing low-value tasks. Differentiation now depends on systems thinking, MLOps, DevSecOps, and embedded software expertise.
• Enterprises are transitioning from headcount-based contracts to outcome-based models, including build-operate-transform-transfer (BOTT) structures.
• Speed-to-market and reliability now hinge on engineering ownership — not just support functions.

Through Akkodis Intelligence, advanced technology is combined with deep human expertise to enable responsible, scalable transformation across industries — from aerospace simulation platforms to AI-powered automotive engineering.

The mindset shift: from SLA reporting to product accountability

An engineering-led GCC is structurally different from a traditional IT GCC.

Where legacy models optimize for cost, scale, and SLA compliance, engineering-led GCCs optimize for:

• Product ownership
• Platform reliability
• Feature velocity
• Measurable business KPIs

“Engineering must operate in the business, not alongside it,” Debecker emphasized.

This transformation requires change across governance, talent strategy, and economics:

• Moving from ticket-based reporting to platform governance with clear service-level objectives
• Recruiting engineers who combine technical depth with commercial and product management acumen
• Shifting from headcount thinking to solution-driven IP and recurring service models
• Embedding human-in-the-loop AI governance to maintain trust, safety, and regulatory alignment

Engineering-led transformation in practice

Across aerospace, industrial, and automotive sectors, GCCs are evolving beyond support roles into innovation hubs.In industrial environments, centers that began with factory systems support now lead automation, robotics integration, and AI-enabled quality assurance.

Across aerospace, industrial, and automotive sectors, GCCs are evolving beyond support roles into innovation hubs

In automotive, the shift toward software-defined vehicles has accelerated distributed engineering teams operating under BOTT frameworks, enabling full-stack architecture ownership and large-scale reskilling.

Akkodis’ engagement with Continent 8 Technologies illustrates this evolution. What began as data center operations expanded into full-stack managed services — connect, operate, secure — enhanced by AI-enabled delivery intelligence. Governance shifted from SLA resolution to risk-weighted platform orchestration and reliability assurance.

This is engineering-led GCC maturity in action.

AI is redefining the role of GCC engineers

AI is transforming GCC engineers from tool users into co-creators of intelligent systems.

Modern engineering teams now design platforms with built-in observability, bias monitoring, drift detection, and lifecycle governance. Domain specialists encode regulatory and safety guardrails directly into systems.

Leaders must prepare for:

• Retraining in DevSecOps, MLOps, reliability engineering, and AI model-aware development
• Embedding AI governance and rollback mechanisms into deployment pipelines
• Investing in reusable AI platforms and shared evaluation services
• Moving from broad experimentation to focused, high-impact implementation

This reflects the philosophy behind Akkodis Intelligence — combining advanced AI capabilities with engineering rigor and human oversight.

The GCC as the engineering brain of the enterprise

Looking ahead, leading GCCs will take accountability for mission-critical platforms end-to-end.

• They will own full-stack R&D lifecycles.
• They will deploy AI in regulated sectors such as defense, aviation, and healthcare.
• They will mature into product organizations with financial and strategic accountability.

The GCC will no longer be an extended arm of the enterprise — it will become its engineering brain.

“2026 will begin a new period that is all about focus, depth, and impact. Enterprises will consolidate around a few high-value AI and engineering domains — and the GCCs that embrace engineering-led models will be positioned to deliver deeper business outcomes.” 
— Jo Debecker, President & CEO, Akkodis

Build a Next-Generation Global Capability Center (GCC) with Akkodis Engineering & AI Expertise

Whether you are launching a new Global Capability Center (GCC) or transforming an existing GCC into an engineering-led innovation hub, Akkodis delivers the digital engineering depth, sector-specific expertise, and human-in-the-loop AI governance required to scale high-impact capabilities. From product ownership and platform engineering to AI implementation and operational excellence, we help enterprises evolve their GCCs into outcome-driven growth engines built for long-term competitiveness.

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