Redefining GCCs as Engines of Enterprise Value
Vivek Jhanjhri
Senior Director, Global Customer Service Operations
Omnissa
Redefining GCCs as Engines of Enterprise Value
Vivek Jhanjhri
Senior Director, Global Customer Service Operations
Omnissa
Over the past two decades, India’s Global Capability Centres have evolved from delivery-focused units into strategic hubs for innovation, decision-making, customer engagement, and business growth. Vivek Jhanjhri has closely witnessed this shift and helped shape it. With more than twenty-five years in the technology industry, he has led global teams across customer service, customer support operations, sales operations and shared services, covering pre- and post-sales customer and sales functions. His approach has consistently focused on a simple principle: GCC value is defined not by scale, but by enterprise impact.
Today, as Senior Director, Global Customer Service Operations at Omnissa India Private Limited, he builds customer support organisations that combine scale, agility, and innovation to meet evolving customer expectations. Across his career, he has helped elevate sales operations and customer support functions into strategic business enablers. In conversation with TradeFlock, he reflects on the evolution of the GCC, leadership through uncertainty, transformation journeys, and the role of operations in driving sustained business value.
What defines an effective COO, and how has your perspective evolved?
An effective COO is someone who can consistently translate strategy into results. Even the strongest strategy delivers little value without disciplined execution, and a COO plays a critical role in turning an organisation’s strategic priorities into measurable business outcomes. This requires a strong bias for execution, including breaking complex objectives into clear, actionable goals and ensuring they are delivered consistently and with accountability.
However, execution alone is no longer enough. A successful COO must also lead transformation. Whether through digital initiatives, AI adoption, process optimisation, or organisational redesign, the role extends beyond managing today’s business to preparing it for tomorrow.
My perspective on the role has evolved over time. Earlier in my career, I viewed operational excellence and execution as the primary responsibilities of a COO. Today, I believe the most effective COOs are those who balance flawless execution with continuous transformation. Organisations cannot afford to remain static, and the COO must constantly evolve the operating model to deliver both immediate results and sustainable long-term value.
What was the biggest lesson from helping build VMware’s India GCC, and what would you do differently today?
The biggest lesson was that scale and efficiency, while important, are not the ultimate measures of a successful GCC. Between 2010 and 2020, much of the focus was on expanding headcount and driving cost efficiencies through standardisation and automation. Those objectives were necessary, but in hindsight, we came relatively late to the broader opportunity to create enterprise value.
If I were building a GCC today, I would view growth and cost optimisation as baseline expectations. My focus would be on influencing corporate leadership to place more strategic roles within the GCC and enabling stronger cross-functional collaboration across the organisation.
The true value of a GCC lies not in individual functional achievements, but in its ability to bring diverse teams together, align priorities, and create meaningful business impact at an enterprise level.
How do you turn strategy into measurable business outcomes?
Turning strategy into measurable outcomes starts with translating enterprise priorities into clear, actionable goals. When people understand not only what they need to do, but why it matters, they develop greater ownership and a stronger connection to the organisation’s success.
Equally important is a robust KPI framework that links strategic objectives to measurable outcomes across teams. With a disciplined operating rhythm like regular reviews, transparent progress tracking, and timely course correction, it ensures alignment and accountability throughout the organisation.
When clarity, measurement, and operating discipline come together, execution becomes consistent, and teams can move collectively toward shared business goals.
During major transformations and uncertainty, how do you keep teams aligned, and what has worked best?
Uncertainty can affect productivity, morale, and customer confidence, but during uncertain times, people are not always seeking complete clarity. They look for leaders who are honest, accessible, and transparent. Communication, therefore, becomes the most critical tool during transformation.
I rely on multiple channels such as town halls, skip-level interactions, and team discussions to ensure alignment across all levels of the organisation. It is equally important to be clear about what is known and what is still evolving, as this helps reduce speculation and rumours.
First-line managers play a key role in carrying messages forward and enabling two-way feedback. I also focus on engaging key talent early and staying close to customers, ensuring commitments, service levels, and trust remain intact throughout periods of change.
How has your leadership style evolved over time, and what has shaped that change?
My leadership style has evolved steadily with each stage of my career, shaped by growing responsibilities and broader organisational exposure. Early on, as a first-line manager, I was hands-on, focused on resolving daily operational issues and directly supporting my team.
As I moved into larger leadership roles, I shifted towards delegation, capability building, and performance management, enabling teams to work more independently. Today, as a senior operations leader, my focus is on coaching, cross-functional influence, and stakeholder management, while also designing scalable
Organisations, processes, and operating models that can adapt to changing business needs and industry dynamics.
Which achievement in your career are you most proud of, and why?
I truly cherish all major accomplishments across my career, particularly building a customer service and support organisation after a divestiture, creating an integrated, revenue-focused support framework, and establishing shared services at scale. These efforts not only delivered strong business outcomes and trust-building within the organisation but also supported significant growth.
However, the greatest satisfaction comes from seeing colleagues and team members evolve into successful professionals. Contributing to their development while also driving measurable enterprise impact remains the most meaningful part of my journey.
Which initiative best reflects your impact as a COO, and why?
The initiative that best reflects my impact came following the creation of Omnissa. After the divestiture, we had to build a global customer support organisation for a $1.4 billion ARR SaaS business while continuing to support more than 23,000+ customers without disruption. In just five months, we established the operating model, implemented Salesforce, built a global contact centre, created analytics capabilities, migrated critical data, and implemented the processes required to run a world-class support organisation.
What makes me most proud is not simply building an organisation under immense uncertainty but redefining the role of customer support. I introduced an integrated support framework that positioned.
customer support as a strategic business partner rather than a transactional service function. By creating stronger links across product, sales, and customer-facing teams, support insights could influence product improvements that reduced customer issues, while commercial and customer insights helped drive more effective prioritisation. This transformed support from a cost centre into a function focused on customer retention, revenue protection, and long-term growth.
This initiative reflects the leadership philosophy I have developed over the course of my career. Looking back, my professional journey has been a real-world MBA earned over twenty-five years through experience rather than textbooks. I started at Hewlett-Packard in 2001, where I learned the fundamentals of business operations, finance, and people leadership within a global organisation. VMware then pushed me beyond my comfort zone, giving me opportunities to build entirely new capabilities, from scaling a global sales operations shared services organisation to leading technical product support. Those experiences reinforced an important lesson: successful leaders do more than operate existing systems; they build capabilities that create future value.
That belief continues to guide me today as we embed AI into our operating model. My philosophy remains unchanged: the best customer service is preventing problems before they occur, and when customers do need support, the experience should be effortless, respectful, and genuinely valuable. AI should be an enabler that helps solve customer problems more effectively not a mechanism for deflecting them.
How do you balance growth, efficiency, and scalability in operations, and which is most challenging?
Growth, efficiency, and scalability are all critical to business success, and the real challenge lies in balancing them based on the organisation’s stage and priorities. Growth drives revenue, efficiency strengthens margins, and scalability ensures operations can expand without proportional increases in cost.
In early-stage organisations, growth typically takes priority, though efficiency remains important. In mature businesses or challenging cycles, efficiency and scalability come to the forefront. Each brings its own complexity, and none is inherently harder than the other. The responsibility of an operations leader is to continuously read the business context and strike the right balance among all three.
What defines a high-performing operations team and key leadership trait?
High-performing operations teams demonstrate end-to-end thinking, strong accountability, and a clear focus on solving both business and customer challenges. They move beyond functional targets to deliver meaningful impact across customers, business performance, and the enterprise. Collaboration, continuous improvement, and data-led decision-making define their approach, with outcomes measured consistently and effectively.
In leaders, adaptability stands out as the most critical trait. In a rapidly changing environment, the ability to learn continuously, execute with speed, recover from setbacks, and challenge existing ways of working is essential. The strongest leaders combine curiosity, resilience, and a willingness to take informed risks while driving growth.
What are the non-negotiable principles that guide your leadership?
My operating philosophy is fairly simple and has remained consistent throughout my career. First, I believe in delivering results and making continuous progress. Progress, even if imperfect, is always better than waiting for perfection. Second, I lead with an ownership mindset. I believe leaders should run towards problems, proactively identify risks, and create a culture where accountability exists at every level.
Finally, I place great importance on alignment and trust. Strong organisations are built on clear purpose, mutual respect, and execution discipline, not endless consensus. These principles shape every decision I make and help create lasting value for customers, employees, and the business.
How would you like your colleagues and teams to remember you as a leader?
More than anything else, I would like my colleagues to remember me as someone they enjoyed working with, someone who brought people together to solve meaningful business problems while creating opportunities to learn and grow along the way.
I have always believed that one of the truest measures of leadership is the ability to identify potential, provide challenging opportunities, and invest in coaching so people can grow into bigger roles. Whenever possible, I have focused on building talent from within because empowered people, given clarity, ownership, and trust, consistently deliver outstanding results.
I also believe leaders must see the bigger picture, break complex challenges into achievable goals, and create an environment where teams feel motivated to innovate, collaborate, and take ownership. If my colleagues remember me as a leader who helped them grow, inspired pride in their contributions, and built a culture of trust, accountability, and shared success, I would consider that my greatest legacy.
