ANSR to have Accenture North American CEO Manish Sharma on its board after $170-mn deal

Accenture

Accenture's North American Chief Executive Officer Manish Sharma will join the ANSR board of directors after the information technology company acquired an undisclosed equity stake in the latter.

ANSR helps companies build, manage, and scale Global Capability Centres (GCCs).

On July 26, ANSR and Accenture announced the partnership to help clients design, set up, and optimize global teams for technology and business functions. The amount infused by Accenture stands close to $170 million (approximately Rs 1,400 crores), according to sources in the know.

Lalit Ahuja, the founder and CEO of ANSR, said it "means a lot" to get Sharma onboard, which reflects the level of commitment from Accenture. "We have a go-to-market that's about to be rolled out,” Ahuja further said while speaking at the GCC X...Summit 2024 in Bengaluru.

A GCC is a dedicated offshore unit established by a company in a foreign country to in-source IT and other related business functions.

Ahuja further said that the partnership with redefine and reimagine the way a GCC industry functions. “A lot more to come,” he added.

The partnership will include services by Accenture’s technology, data, and AI-powered capabilities and architecture to help clients run their GCCs. This partnership also underscores the growing importance of GCCs in India, as the sector is poised to grow exponentially in the coming years.

On July 22, India's Economic Survey 2024 revealed that GCCs by multinational companies are set to contribute roughly 3.5 percent of India’s GDP by 2030, generating an estimated revenue of $121 billion by then.

Also read: Revenue of ER&D GCCs grows over 30% to $25 billion in India

Meanwhile, Ahuja said the operating model of GCCs integration with peers will be important if the captive unit has to play a meaningful role, going forward. He added that ANSR is working hard to remove the notion that GCCs are an outpost of the global team on top of the subservient organisation.

Adding that the next generation of GCCs should essentially become the enterprise.

“So they (GCCs) become a lot more mission-oriented and much of what we are trying to do with our partnership with Accenture is to essentially take this concept broadly,” Ahuja said.

He also added that a GCC needs unequivocal commitment, sponsorship, and acceptance from the highest levels of the company, right from the board to the CEO.

Sameer Dhanrajani, CEO of AI and analytics leaders platform 3Ai, said that the world’s largest IT company investing in ANSR is a commitment from the ecosystem that GCCs are real and it will trigger a chain reaction that will encourage more companies to set up GCCs.

“Earlier, these were all silos. GCCs, ANSR, consulting firms, Accenture and KPMGs of the world, now this is all coming together, so the whole ecosystem has become cohesive,” Dhanrajani told Moneycontrol.

When asked what the future holds for GCCs in India, Ahuja said CEOs might emerge from these India-based captive centres of global companies in the next three-four years.

Also read: GCC spree pushes up demand for data centres, enters list of top sectors