India, Nov. 5 -- During a GCC (global capability center) strategy retreat, the chief innovation officer proudly introduced the company's new "Tech Hub"-a modest repurposed storage room outfitted with a beanbag chair, a lava lamp, and a whiteboard still faintly marked "Janitorial Roster."

"This is where transformative ideas will ignite," he proclaimed. Within a week, an attempt to power a 3D printer triggered a building-wide outage. The space was discreetly renamed "The Reflection Room" and soon became a haven for robust conversations with smuggled beer and spicy snacks. Surprisingly, productivity shot by 25%.

If that anecdote made you smile, these statistics should make you think for a while: The global GCC market is set to reach US$403...