Four weeks.
A board case built
from your numbers.
A paid engagement with a defined scope and a defined end. You get a decision-ready business case whether or not you build with us — and the fee credits in full against the build if you do.
Current state, measured
Your existing engineering and operations spend, mapped line by line. Vendor contracts read for embedded margin, renewal terms and exit conditions. Sprint velocity and attrition baselined so later claims can be tested against something real.
Function and team design
Which functions move first and in what order. The product team defined by role and seniority. The translator role scoped against your specific product organization. Location structure recommended with the trade-offs priced.
Economics and compliance
Full open-book run-rate model. Entity structure recommendation with tax and regulatory consequences. Compliance scope for your customer geographies — including SOC 2 and CCPA, and EU exposure where it applies.
The board case
A presentation you can take to your board without editing: the model, the risks, the alternatives considered and a signed 100-day operating blueprint. If the honest recommendation is not to proceed, that is what the document says.
Fixed fee. Paid upfront. Credited in full.
The assessment is priced as a fixed fee, scaled to the size of your organization and the scope of the review. It is paid before the work begins, and it credits in full against the build fee if you proceed.
We charge for it deliberately. Free strategy work gets read once and filed. Paid work gets attention from the people whose decision it is — and it means we can tell you not to proceed without that recommendation costing us the engagement.
Request scope and pricing →The questions we get before anyone signs anything.
01What is The Second Shore's GCC platform, and how is it different from traditional GCC providers?+
The Second Shore is an enterprise GCC platform designed to help mid-market companies build, operate and eventually own high-performing India operations. Unlike traditional outsourcing or GCC setup providers, we combine strategy, entity structuring, talent architecture, infrastructure, product-context transfer, governance and operating economics into one integrated model.
The objective is not simply to put people in India. It is to create a second operational home for your company — with transparent economics, direct leadership alignment, measurable delivery and an operating model designed for long-term ownership and scale.
02Why should we build a GCC instead of continuing with outsourcing or a BPO?+
A GCC gives your company greater control, transparency, institutional knowledge and long-term operating leverage than a conventional BPO model.
With traditional outsourcing, the vendor typically controls the employment relationship, operating economics and delivery structure. In an owned GCC model, the organization is designed around your business, your product, your processes and your long-term objectives.
The Second Shore helps determine whether that model actually makes economic and strategic sense for your company before you commit to building it.
03Is an India GCC right for a mid-market company?+
Yes — provided the economics, functions, talent requirements and operating model justify it.
We do not assume that every company should build a GCC. Our four-week GCC Readiness Assessment examines your current costs, functions, team structure, talent requirements, location options, regulatory considerations and alternatives.
The outcome is a board-ready business case and operating blueprint — including a recommendation not to proceed if that is the right answer.
04How does The Second Shore's open-book GCC model work?+
Our open-book model separates the actual cost of operating your GCC from our platform and operating fees.
Instead of hiding compensation, infrastructure, facilities, management and other operating costs inside blended vendor rates, the economics are structured so your leadership and finance teams can understand what the operation actually costs.
This gives CFOs greater visibility into the true cost of the India operation, the economics of scaling and the value being created over time.
05How do you ensure an India engineering team understands our product and not just our tickets?+
We build product context into the operating model through a dedicated "translator layer."
A senior hybrid role connects your US product strategy with India engineering execution. They participate in product planning, translate intent into actionable sprint briefs and help ensure the India team understands why something needs to be built — not simply what a ticket says.
This is designed to reduce one of the most common failure modes in distributed engineering: building the right thing technically but the wrong thing commercially.
06What can actually be achieved in the first 100 days?+
The goal is not simply to establish an entity or hire employees within 100 days. The goal is to have a functioning operation delivering measurable work.
The 100-day model — starting from signed contract — progresses from entity and infrastructure setup, through recruitment and context transfer, to an operational team delivering its first sprint.
By Day 100, the target is to have evidence-based operating metrics including velocity, cost per sprint and retention, rather than simply a completed implementation checklist.
07How do you choose the right Indian city for our GCC?+
We do not start with a predetermined city. We start with your business requirements.
We evaluate the functions being built, required talent profile, seniority, retention objectives, cost targets and operating requirements before recommending a location.
The result may be a Tier 1 city, Tier 2 location or hybrid structure. The recommendation — and the associated trade-offs — is part of the assessment.
08How do you handle security, compliance, tax and regulatory requirements for an India GCC?+
Regulatory, tax, security and compliance considerations are incorporated into the GCC design rather than addressed after the operation has been established.
The assessment considers entity structure, customer geography, data flows and applicable regulatory requirements, starting with SOC 2 and CCPA for North American operations. For companies with significant European exposure, for example, the operating model can account for relevant EU regulatory considerations before the entity and infrastructure decisions are finalized.
09Who owns the GCC, people, intellectual property and operating capability?+
The GCC is designed around your company's long-term ownership and control rather than permanent dependence on a service provider.
The operating blueprint, processes, systems and knowledge are documented and structured to remain transferable. You can scale the center, operate it independently or transition it further into your organization as your needs evolve.
Our model is therefore designed around building capability — not creating vendor dependency.
10What is the GCC Readiness Assessment, and what do we get from it?+
The GCC Readiness Assessment is a four-week, paid engagement that determines whether — and how — you should build an India GCC.
We analyze your current operating economics, functions, team requirements, location options, entity structure, compliance considerations and operating model. The engagement concludes with a board-ready business case and a signed 100-day operating blueprint.
If you proceed with The Second Shore, the assessment fee is credited in full against the build fee.
We don't build GCCs to replace people with AI, and we're not selling an AI-labor-arbitrage story. What we build is capability — teams who use modern tools, including AI, to work faster, not teams whose sole value is being cheaper than automation. If a function can be meaningfully automated, we'll tell you that in the assessment rather than staff it. The centers we build are structured around judgment, ownership and product context — the things AI doesn't replace — and we price and recommend accordingly.