What build-operate-transfer means
A global capability centre (GCC) is a company’s own offshore team. Build-operate-transfer (BOT) is one way to get there. A partner builds the centre, hiring the people and setting up how they work. The partner then operates it alongside you while it delivers your roadmap. Finally the centre transfers to you under terms agreed at the start.
- Build: roles, hiring, workspace and tooling
- Operate: delivery, processes and governance
- Transfer: the team and its knowledge become yours
BOT, outsourcing or building it yourself
Outsourcing gets work done quickly, but when the contract ends you own no team and little of the knowledge. Building a centre yourself gives you ownership, but you carry the whole set-up and hiring risk in a market you may not know. BOT sits between the two: the partner carries the set-up and early hiring risk, and ownership moves to you once the centre is working.
- Outsourcing: speed without ownership
- Building alone: ownership with all the set-up risk
- BOT: a working team first, ownership after
Build around the roadmap
Roles and working practices should follow the capability needed over time, not a generic hiring list.
- Data science and engineering
- Leadership requirements
- Operating environment
Operate with transfer in view
Knowledge and operating practices need to develop alongside delivery. Transfer is an engagement arrangement rather than an automatic date.
- Roadmap delivery
- Knowledge sharing
- Governance
Questions to settle before you start
The details that cause trouble later are the ones left vague at the beginning. Decide which roles come first and who leads the centre. Decide how knowledge will be written down during the operate phase, not at the end. Agree what has to be true before transfer happens, who owns the IP and data throughout, and what support continues after the handover.
- First roles and centre leadership
- How knowledge is documented as you go
- Conditions for transfer
- IP, data and support after handover
When a centre is the wrong choice
A capability centre suits an ongoing roadmap. If you have one defined piece of work, a project is the better start. If nobody inside your company will own the centre after transfer, wait until someone will. A partner who has built centres before should tell you this before taking the work.
- A single project: start with a project
- No long-term roadmap: too early
- No internal owner: not ready to receive the transfer
Agree what ownership means
The team, IP, responsibilities and transition support need clear arrangements. Data Prophets has delivered two centres with more than 80 people each.
- Transfer conditions
- Ownership arrangements
- Transition continuity
Your next step
The team, IP, responsibilities and transition support need clear arrangements. Data Prophets has delivered two centres with more than 80 people each.
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