Global service delivery is evolving as a mature business model, where an individual company leveraging on a few resources offshore to countries, and is now preparing to emerge as the next destination for technology and business process outsourcing. This is a business model on which both leading companies and service providers are leveraging on. It is now a key strategic requirement for successful enterprises and is now shaping the way services are developed and delivered across the globe.

The GSD approach gives the service provider the opportunity to tap into the best global resources, which are talent, infrastructure, technology solutions and political and economic environments. It signifies the emergence of a type 3 model as distinct from a type 1 model where delivery is focused on domain or industry skills resident in the country of delivery and a type 2 where delivery is focused on high quality, technology skills resident in an offshore location. Besides, the cost arbitrage of offshore operations adds economic advantage to the entire process. With these benefits the customer is able to get the optimum mix of resources and ensure business value. It is the unique balance of on shore and off shore delivery. Companies that provide this effectively are those that are equally invested in the demand and supply side of the execution model. It has given the service providers more degrees to freedom-freedom from 10-hour days; labor shortages, economic constraints and single point dependencies. Selected and designed correctly, the GSD model benefits both the customer and the service provider.

The Drivers
The drivers of the global service delivery include the sophistication of today's technology. With the available communication networks and technology platforms, business can be conducted across the world without having a direct physical presence. It is not the same as having branches in the world as global sourcing allows transfer of skill and processes, while maintaining standard quality and reducing cost at all times.

Availability of highly educated, technically skilled and low-cost talent in emerging economies, the GSD has achieved broad acceptance through its ability to deliver lower costs, higher quality, and productivity. Favorable government regulations also drive the GSD and ensures centralized delivery of service. On the other hand having branches world over will lead to ineffective integration of services. Moreover, competitive pressures in all industries force customers to look at new business models to stay ahead of the competition.

Cost is one of the drivers and other main aspect is the availability of talent pool. For example, Philippines has good talent pool in voice arena because of similarity in accent with the US. The biggest advantage of India is the 24/7-delivery capability because of 12 hours time lag. In addition to cost, clients are gaining added value from strategic innovations that are being executed from inception to finish by the global delivery operations. Quality assurance cuts down maintenance costs while continuous improvements aid in improving all the key parameters. Value is a function of price, quality, risk, scope or skill, and time. Price is only one factor in the GSD model. Quality, risk and skill are equally important. The cost factor has evolved and we are looking at a location not only for cost but also for the value that location can deliver and this in the earlier offshore game was marked by cost alone but now the market is at a 3.0 stage it has evolved from cost to performance/process improvement to value creation.

India and GSD
The opportunity to combine global resources with a local presence is the key driver to adoption of GSD. It is a proven model for delivering the best solution at the best price offering a range of global sourcing options designed to align with a client's core business needs. India is replete with type 2 firms. These firms have realized that to keep up with the changing nature of the industry, they need to invest more heavily in the demand chain too. This is why several India companies are now acquiring or organically growing their presence in the US and Europe. World over companies are looking at India as a favorable destination for outsourcing because of its low cost talent pool and time difference advantage. The best practices gained by handling global offshore work are helping India centric companies to leverage these benefits to provide value proposition. Global mergers and acquisitions by Indian companies are further driving the adoption of GSD model.

Competitive pressures, demographics imbalances, technology innovations and global market opportunities are driving the adoption of GSD in India. The signs are clear for the BPO companies either adopt or perish.