From Cost Centers to Capability Hubs How GCCs Are Redefining Workforce Skilling in the AI Era | Geetanjali Wheeler | Director – Talent Management and Development | Sun Life Global Solutions

Over the past two decades, Global Capability Centers (GCCs) have undergone significant structural changes, with their foundational baseline shifting considerably. What was once differentiated us in terms of efficiency, scale, and operational excellence is now expected. Hygiene is no longer a value proposition; it is the price of entry.

Today, GCCs are no longer measured by how well they execute, but by how meaningfully they influence enterprise outcomes. The arena has changed and with it, the expectations from talent. The ability to connect execution to strategy, operate in ambiguity, and drive business impact are must-haves.

This creates a clear imperative – “Our people must be ready not just for today, but for what lies ahead.”

Leading organizations are responding with a fundamental shift in how they build and deploy talent:

Treat capability building as a core operating discipline

Move beyond participation metrics to outcome-based development, anchored in enterprise priorities and measured through real capability shifts.

Embed development in the flow of work

Leverage integrated platforms and AI to enable continuous, contextual learning making development adaptive, not episodic.

Build enterprise-wide AI, data, and digital fluency

What AI enables is scale and speed, making continuous future readiness non-negotiable. Increasingly, GCCs are building enterprise-wide fluency in digital, data, and AI capabilities, treating it as foundational literacy much like basic computer proficiency once was (remember!)

Shift from managing roles to managing capabilities

The skills narrative is shifting, and it demands a more dynamic view of the workforce – one that prioritizes which capabilities to scale, which to build for future advantage, and which to sustain for operational resilience.

Leverage talent intelligence for precision decisions
Integrate skills, performance, mobility, and external market insights to move from reactive workforce planning to data-informed build, buy, and redeploy strategies.

Reimagine role placement through an enterprise lens

As GCCs take on more decision-making roles, shift the question from “where should roles sit” to “where can work be best enabled to drive outcomes.”

AI is accelerating this transformation by compressing skill and learning cycles but it cannot define the direction. The mandate to translate capability into value remains a leadership responsibility.

The Choice Ahead

GCC leaders today are not managing but shaping transformation. The question is not whether this shift will happen, but how deliberately it will be led. Will GCCs remain efficient engines of execution, or will they emerge as capability hubs that define enterprise advantage?

The answer lies in the choices leaders make now regarding talent, skills, and the systems that connect them.

In an AI-shaped world, the differentiator will not be access to talent, but the precision with which it is built, deployed, and evolved.

The question is simple: which side of that future do you want to lead from?