A total of 60 GCC leaders managing over 5 lakh employees across 12+ Fortune 200 and 25+ Fortune 500 companies, across all major industry domains were part of the gathering.
Francisco D’Souza, Co-Founder & former CEO, Cognizant, Sumeet Chabria, CEO of ThoughtLinks, and ex-Global COO/CIO of Bank of America and HSBC, and Ashwin Bharath, CEO, Galent and Executive Chairman, Revature led the conversations.
Fourthwards by Galent fosters cross-industry collaboration to help leaders navigate AI’s impact on global services, workforce transformation, and evolving service models. The discussions reinforced India’s leadership in AI-powered enterprise innovation and emphasized the need for collective action to unlock AI’s full potential. Held under Chatham House Rules, the discussions encouraged open conversations on AI’s opportunities and challenges.
The event highlights included a Fireside chat, moderated by Ashwin Bharath which explored AI’s role in reshaping GCC strategies to drive global innovation and value creation, a roundtable discussion led by
Francisco D’Souza and Sumeet Chabria, facilitating candid conversations on AI strategy alignment, Generative AI differentiation, and scaling challenges. The series threw light on AI’s defining role in GCC evolution, showcasing how Indian GCCs are not just adapting to AI but actively driving innovation and creating new paradigms of value creation in the global services ecosystem.
The series highlighted how GCCs are evolving beyond service centres into core enablers of enterprise strategy and the advantage of having a unique ecosystem with top talent, reskilling capabilities and a collaborative environment not easily replicated at enterprise headquarters. The other takeaways included responsible AI adoption and how AI must drive business outcomes.
Sharing his thoughts, Sumeet Chabria, CEO of ThoughtLinks, and ex-Global COO/CIO of Bank of America and HSBC said, “What we witnessed was a remarkable convergence of ideas and strategies. The participating GCC leaders demonstrated how they’re leveraging AI to transform their operations from traditional service delivery centers to strategic innovation hubs.”
Ashwin Bharat, CEO of Galent, launched the Fourthwards Report: AI & the Future of GCCs – Navigating the GenAI Landscape, a definitive guide for industry leaders to understand and leverage Second Generation AI and said, “At Galent, we believe Generative AI & Agentic AI will open far more doors than they will close. However, true success requires GCCs and enterprises to work as one. AI adoption is moving at unprecedented speed, and when the shift happens, GCCs must lead the charge—not play catch-up.”