Insights

Glossary: GCC, offshore and SAP terms

Short definitions in plain language, as Altacent Partners uses the terms.

Global capability center (GCC)

An offshore unit that a company owns and runs to do work for its parent group, such as IT, finance, engineering or analytics. Also called a captive center or global in-house center.

Micro GCC

A wholly controlled, directly governed offshore team of about five to twenty-five professionals, working under the owning company's own brand and standards. The definition follows the book The Micro-GCC Advantage.

Body shopping

A staffing arrangement in which an agency employs the professionals and places them with clients at a marked-up rate. The talent belongs to the agency, not the client.

Employer of record (EOR)

A provider that legally employs staff in a country on a company's behalf, handling payroll and statutory compliance, so a team can start before the company has its own local entity.

Captive center

Another name for a GCC: an offshore center owned by the company it serves, as opposed to a vendor's center.

Offshore delivery

Doing work for a client from another country, usually to access skills or lower costs. It can be done through a vendor, a captive center or a mix.

Outsourcing

Buying a service from an outside vendor who employs the people and is paid under a contract.

Build-operate-transfer (BOT)

An arrangement in which a partner builds and runs a center for a period, then transfers it to the client, who then owns it.

Carve-out

The separation of a business unit from its parent company, for example when an investment firm buys it. IT and shared services usually have to be separated or replaced.

Transition services agreement (TSA)

A temporary contract under which a seller keeps providing services, such as IT, to a carved-out business until it can run on its own.

SOC 2

An independent audit report on how a service organization protects data, covering security, availability and related controls. Clients often ask for it from offshore centers.

IT general controls (ITGC)

The basic controls over IT systems, such as access, change management and operations, that auditors test to rely on a company's financial systems.

Segregation of duties (SoD)

A control that stops one person from holding combinations of access that allow error or fraud, such as creating a supplier and approving its payment.

Governance, risk and control (GRC)

The policies, systems and checks that manage access, risk and compliance across an enterprise, including in SAP.

SAP ECC and R/3

Earlier generations of SAP's enterprise software that came before S/4HANA. R/3 dates from the 1990s and ECC followed it. Many companies still run them.

SAP BTP

SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP's cloud platform for integration, extension, data and AI, including the Joule assistant.

SAP Joule

SAP's AI assistant, which answers questions and completes tasks in plain language across SAP cloud products.

Robotic process automation (RPA)

Software bots that operate application screens the way a person would, used to automate routine tasks without changing the underlying system.

SAP S/4HANA

SAP's current enterprise software suite for finance, supply chain, manufacturing and other core processes.

Procurement platform

Software that manages buying and supplier processes. Ariba, Coupa and Ivalua are widely used examples.