‘Healthcare GCCs in India Help Cut Costs by 20%’
According to the recent Nasscom-Zinnov report, by 2024, India’s Global Capability Centers (GCCs) will have grown to 1,700, generating $64.6 billion in export revenue and employing over 1.9 million people. Notably, over 15% of these employees are in the healthcare and life sciences sectors. Indian GCCs in healthcare are leading the efforts in drug discovery and development by harnessing computational chemistry, bioinformatics, and AI-driven platforms. These centres are accelerating the R&D of new drugs and bringing them to market faster than ever before. By integrating advanced analytics and data-driven insights, Indian GCCs are making significant contributions to global healthcare innovation, improving patient outcomes on a broader scale. In an exclusive conversation with AIM, Balasubramanian Sankaranarayanan, the CEO & president of Thryve Digital LLP, said, “In healthcare GCCs, we focus on a specific vertical, dedicating our entire efforts to it. Our goal is to find individuals deeply engaged in healthcare and provide them with opportunities to take on much larger career roles.” Headquartered in Chennai, Thryve Digital Health creates solutions that enable the “payvider” (pay provider) network with the intelligence, connectivity, and seamless integration demanded by its multi-platform healthcare systems. “While many large IT service companies have healthcare verticals, true healthcare expertise exists in only a small percentage of their workforce. Among the top healthcare verticals, you might find 50,000 people, but fewer than 1% truly understand the industry at a deep level,” Sankaranarayanan noted. Employees, Cost, and More As of 2023, over 80 healthcare & life science GCCs have employed more than  250k employees in India. The CEO mentioned that their objective is to build Thryve with that 1% of healthcare-focused experts who not only understand the domain but also grasp the business, technical, and customer challenges. The Indian government aims to have 2,400–2,500 GCCs operating nationwide by 2030, with a workforce of over 4.5 million people. However, given today’s cost-constrained economy and the need to fund future initiatives, businesses are under pressure to extract more value. Enterprises, especially in sectors like healthcare, are constantly reimagining the future, and that requires substantial investment. But where will these dollars come from? According to Sankaranarayanan, the answer lies in optimisation and efficiency. Labour arbitrage has already provided a lot of initial value, but now these companies need to go further. Establishing a GCC in countries like India presents an immediate 20% cost differential compared to working with service providers. These savings go directly back into the enterprise because GCCs aren’t focused on generating margins but on optimising operations. When companies set up their GCCs, they immediately see a 20% cost reduction. Whether they choose GCCs or service providers, the talent pool remains similar. He further pointed out that relying solely on a GCC or a service provider has its trade-offs. With service providers, enterprises benefit from learning across multiple customers and industries and the innovation investments made by these providers. GCCs, on the other hand, provide talent access but miss out on some of those external advantages. What GCCs offer is a short- to medium-term cost benefit, which can be as high as 20%. So, many companies, like Thryve, adopt a hybrid strategy. It operates with 80% of its own GCC setup while maintaining partnerships with key service providers to balance the best of both worlds. This allows them to gradually transition work from external partners into the GCC, especially higher-end work that might require proprietary frameworks or intellectual property not suitable for outsourcing. What’s GCC to Healthcare Sectors? Beyond the usual tasks undertaken by healthcare GCCs, like transforming data processes in clinical trials and enhancing supply chain management, Thryve Digital Healthcare is also looking to work towards the administrative part. “For example, in claims processing, understanding the intricacies across different claim types—whether commercial, government, or Medicare/Medicaid—is crucial. This knowledge extends to how our platform handles claims, improves auto-adjudication rates, and streamlines processes, leading to greater efficiency and customer satisfaction. Even small improvements in these areas can lead to significant gains,” Sankaranarayanan said. Source: ANSR Global ANSR Research quotes a case study that focuses on a German healthcare solutions provider that expanded its digital health capabilities in India by leveraging AI and other advanced technologies to improve patient care and diagnostics. The company’s GCC in India, established in 2008 and spread across Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Gurugram, functions as an innovation hub with a workforce of 4,000-5,000 employees. The solutions developed at the Indian GCC include the AI Pathway Companion, which integrates patient data across different sources to aid in better decision-making; the AI-Rad Companion, which automates analysis and quantification of clinical imaging data; and the Patient Experience App, which enhances MRI patient experiences using Augmented Reality (AR). What’s Next? Scaling data and AI in an enterprise context is crucial, and it’s something many GCCs are actively working on. If they can achieve AI at scale, it becomes a straightforward lift and shift to apply those insights to even rural India, where scalable and equitable access is essential to drive the right outcomes. Many of these use cases will initially focus on more standardised medical protocols, like retinopathy, where there’s a clear SOP. According to Sankaranarayanan, radiology accounts for about 70% of AI models, while cardiovascular applications make up another 15%. In India, ophthalmology is a key area, and AI models are already delivering high-quality results. Meanwhile, the healthcare sector is witnessing a strong influx of funding. Recently, Bengaluru-based startup Even Healthcare, which provides facilities such as consultation and hospitalisation to its members, raised $30 million in funding led by Silicon Valley-based Khosla Ventures. In another update, Microsoft has announced new healthcare data and AI tools, including a collection of medical imaging models, a healthcare agent service, and an automated documentation solution for nurses.
As of 2023, over 80 healthcare & life science GCCs have employed more than 250k people in India.
Scaling data and AI in an enterprise context is crucial, and it’s something many GCCs are actively working on.
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