By James Morgan McGill, Esq. (a.k.a. Saul Goodman when the stakes are higher than my moral standards)
March 19. Somewhere between a retainer call and a restraining order.
Dear Journal,
Today, I’m putting aside my usual litigious shenanigans, shutting out the ambulance sirens, and focusing on another kind of hustle. Not mine (for once), but the hustle of GCCs—those fine Global Capability Centers who, like me, began with modest dreams of support and scale… and now find themselves on the edge of something greater: digital product engineering.
Yeah, you heard me. Not just fixing bugs, babysitting infra, or rewriting code someone else already thought through. I’m talking about designing, building, testing, and owning products that matter. Products that a real user somewhere lives by. Because here’s the thing—if your GCC is still doing what it did five years ago, it’s like being a VHS repairman in the age of Netflix. You’re still in the business, sure. But the business ain’t still in you.
So buckle up. Let’s talk shop. Saul Goodman style.
First, What the Hell Is a GCC Again?
You’ve got to appreciate the irony. A Global Capability Center sounds like a Bond villain’s lair, but really it’s where corporates from Fargo to Frankfurt send their operations, hoping Bangalore will make it better, cheaper, and not break anything.
Now, GCCs come in a few flavors:
- Support centers: The original sin. Cost centers born of PowerPoint and wishful thinking. You know the type—“Hey let’s move this process offshore and hope Steve in San Jose doesn’t notice.”
- Engineering hubs: The glow-up. These boys actually code. They work on products, sometimes even from scratch. Often told what to do, but occasionally trusted to figure out how.
- Innovation labs: The unicorns. These don’t just support or build—they imagine. AI pilots, digital twins, quantum fantasies. Mostly used in keynote speeches and internal showcases. But when it works, it really works.
And here’s the good news, journal: the GCC landscape is evolving faster than you can say “low-cost jurisdiction.” What began as shadow units behind the scenes are now becoming front-row players. And if you ask me—Jimmy McGill, J.D., Esq., LLC—they better move to digital product engineering if they want to stay on the credits list.
Why Product Engineering? Because Nobody Thanks You for Stability.
Let me break it down. Digital product engineering isn’t just about slapping a new UI on an old backend. It’s about rethinking value from first principles. It means your GCC isn’t just a global servant, but a co-creator of future revenue.
And trust me, gratitude hits different when you’re not just reducing costs, but driving growth.
Let’s talk Public Sector. These guys? They’re holding on to legacy stacks like they’re family heirlooms. But once in a while, a GCC comes in—say, for a transportation or e-governance platform—rips out the duct tape, and rolls out a cloud-native, mobile-first solution. And when it works? Oh baby, you don’t just get a pat on the back. You get to watch a population of 20 million use your app. That’s a dopamine hit you can’t outsource.
And don’t get me started on BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance). These are the most risk-averse, audit-loving, regulatory rulebook-thumping folks on Earth. And yet—when a GCC builds them a fully compliant, digitally-native claims processing engine or wealth management dashboard with embedded AI? Suddenly, the same folks who couldn’t let you push code on a Friday are inviting you to product roadmap sessions.
Client feedback from one BFSI transformation I heard about?
“Your team doesn’t just understand our systems; you understand our customers. You made us relevant again.”
Now that’s not just feedback, journal. That’s a trust fund in words.
And then we’ve got the ISVs—Independent Software Vendors. These are the oddballs, the rock bands of enterprise software. They move fast, break things, and push updates every Tuesday. When they partner with a GCC that speaks product fluently—builds design systems, scales DevSecOps, owns API maturity—guess what? The GCC becomes part of the core engineering muscle, not just a detachable limb.
One such ISV recently sent the GCC a note:
“This was supposed to be staff augmentation. Turns out you were product augmentation.”
Now that’s a mic drop, journal.
But Saul, Why Now?
Because the world, my friend, is having a midlife crisis.
The public sector needs to be more digital than bureaucratic.
BFSI players need to be more fintech than fossil.
And ISVs? They need partners, not passengers.
In this storm, GCCs have the one thing that most HQs don’t: a critical mass of builders. Not just coders, but thinkers. Designers. Testers. Ops folks. Dreamers. People who can ship. And the kicker? They’re all in the same time zone, speaking the same Slack-ese, and working shoulder to shoulder.
But here’s the catch: the organization must allow them to own. Not just execute.
The Real Hustle: Ownership, Not Oversight
Digital product engineering is not a ticket you punch. It’s a behavior. It requires:
- A product mindset: Roadmaps, not requirements.
- Engineering autonomy: CICD pipelines, not email approvals.
- Customer obsession: Feedback loops, not SLA loops.
- Risk appetite: Ship often, fail small, learn fast.
Let me tell you, journal, you can’t fake this. You can’t slap the word “lab” on a beige conference room and expect innovation. You need org structures, incentives, metrics, and trust. And yes, trust is the real currency here. Once your client trusts you with user outcomes, not just UAT pass rates, you’re in.
Saul’s Closing Argument
If you’re a GCC, and you’re still stuck in PowerPoint purgatory or Excel exile, I have one piece of advice for you:
Get out. While you still have your soul—and your relevance.
Step into digital product engineering. Build something messy. Own something beautiful. Make your client say “thank you” not for saving money, but for making money. For serving citizens. For making software that isn’t embarrassing.
Because when you do that, you’re not just a GCC anymore.
You’re not even just a partner.
You become—wait for it—the product itself.
Now if only the Bar Council would let me code. But hey, everyone’s got a dream.
—Jimmy
Postscript:
For the record, I still take calls from GCCs looking to trademark their labs. But remember: branding is what you say. Product engineering is what you do.
comically 
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