US-based financial services company The Standard is scaling its India GCC to nearly 400 employees by year-end, less than a year after inheriting about 175 employees through its acquisition of Allstate’s Employer Voluntary Benefits business, as the company positions the Bengaluru centre as an innovation hub focused on AI, data, analytics, software engineering and business transformation.Greg Chandler, Chief Information & Technology Officer at The Standard, explained that the opportunity to establish its own GCC is a result of the company’s recent growth journey and acquisition strategy.“We are now on our third acquisition in roughly four years, and our most recent acquisition, which was part of Allstate, brought several talented employees who became a key part of our thinking around establishing a center in India. Through the Allstate acquisition, we inherited approximately 175 employees in Bangalore, and that gave us an important starting point. We expect to be just shy of 400 employees by the end of this year,” he said.The Standard’s India GCC operations were established in November 2025, while the Bengaluru office was inaugurated in April 2026.Moreover, The Standard has doubled in size over the last three years in terms of employees, revenue, and net operating income. This growth, combined with the Allstate acquisition, created an opportunity for the company to rethink its operations in India. Today, The Standard generates approximately $6 billion in revenue and employs just under 6,000 people globally.“As we built this center, we reimagined what a GCC could be. We have extensive experience working with partners such as IBM, Genpact, and others. However, those models are different from what we are building here. While traditional delivery centers serve an important purpose, this is an innovation center. The work we are bringing here is focused on helping us move the company forward competitively, whether we are discussing AI, customer experience, analytics, software engineering, or transformation,” Chandler highlighted.To support this, the company has doubled the capacity of its AI team through Standard India, doubled the size of its data and analytics team, and more than doubled its total experience team.Chandler clarified that no back-end maintenance activity is being done in India. The centre has a forward-looking focus, with the company hiring experienced professionals.Part of the strategy has been to insource work directly tied to innovation. While The Standard initially relied on partners such as Accenture for digital, AI and data analytics initiatives, it has moved these capabilities in-house to retain knowledge, expertise and intellectual capital.One challenge with external vendors is the time they need to understand the business, operating model, customers and strategy, which can slow innovation and execution. By contrast, The Standard has seen stronger outcomes from internal teams that combine group insurance expertise with AI capabilities.“Over time, certain capabilities and products may become primarily focused in India, while others may continue to reside in the US depending on vendor relationships, proximity requirements, or other business considerations. However, the model is fundamentally collaborative. We are not creating parallel organizations, but shared ownership and shared accountability across teams. The role India plays is to increase our capacity and accelerate the work we are already doing, not to displace existing teams or capabilities elsewhere in the organization,” he emphasised.In terms of hiring activity, the company’s primary focus areas have been AI, data and analytics, total experience, and software engineering. Beyond that, it is also bringing in talent across security and infrastructure functions.“When I compare what I have seen here in India with the United States, the depth of talent available is extraordinary, and the early results from which are having a powerful impact on our company. India has a large and growing pool of AI-trained professionals, with a scale that is currently difficult to match in the United States. While our objective is not to reduce our presence in the US, if we are going to add capacity, India is a compelling place to do so because of the depth and quality of its talent pool,” Chandler added.Published on August 20, 2026