A Global Outsourcing Success: A Conversation with GDC Services’ Enrique Ortega-Rodriguez
We spoke with Enrique Ortega-Rodriguez, Key Account Manager, to understand the key challenges the customer faced, the solutions provided by GDC Services, and the impact of this collaboration.
What challenges did the customer face that led them to seek outsourcing support from GDC Services?
Enrique: Our customer is a massive organization with a presence across multiple countries and continents. Their IT infrastructure is equally complex, encompassing cloud solutions in AWS and Azure, extensive workplace infrastructure, and a sophisticated network architecture. Managing all these components efficiently requires a combination of expertise, coordination, and strategic oversight.
One of their key challenges was managing a highly distributed IT environment, with teams working in different regions, including India, Europe, and the United States. Some teams were virtual, some were physical, and many operated within a matrix organizational structure, serving multiple divisions simultaneously. This led to several operational pain points, including:
- Network infrastructure management issues, requiring specialized expertise.
- Workplace infrastructure challenges, as a significant portion of operations were virtualized and managed remotely.
- Vendor management challenges, as internal teams lacked the necessary experience to oversee external service providers efficiently.
Given our past collaborations with the customer, they knew they could rely on us to help streamline and optimize these operations. Our deep expertise in IT infrastructure, networking and workplace management positioned us as a trusted partner to tackle these issues.
When did the project start, and what does the cooperation look like today?
Enrique: I personally joined the project in December 2023, and since then, our involvement has steadily grown. Today, we have a team of six experts working across different areas, with plans to expand further in 2025.
Unlike a traditional IT project with a fixed scope and timeline, our work here is more about ongoing service delivery. We provide specialized professionals who integrate into the customer’s own teams, supporting them in a variety of roles. These experts bring extensive industry experience and technical skills, which is why our partnership continues to grow.
What are the main activities that GDC Services performs?
- Workplace Infrastructure: We provide architects who help design, optimize, and manage Bridgestone’s global workplace environment. This is a critical function, as workplace technologies must support a seamless digital experience for employees worldwide.
- Network Operations: Our experts assist in network optimization, virtual network design, and cloud integration, particularly in bridging the gap between Azure and AWS environments across Bridgestone’s European and American divisions.
- Project Management: One of our team members is leading a major voice call technology program.
- Global Operations Management
- Vendor & IT Service Management: We oversee subcontractors and internal IT operations, ensuring seamless service delivery and adherence to ITIL frameworks.
- Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI): We have specialists in Citrix environments, managing and improving VDI performance.
- Operations Management: Across several towers, we provide operational managers who coordinate the global operation across multiple teams, vendors and locations and drive improvements.
Because our work is spread across different IT “towers” or divisions, these services are independent yet collectively contribute to the overall IT efficiency.
How is the outsourcing project structured?
Enrique: Rather than a traditional project with defined milestones, our work with Bridgestone follows an operational model. Every new service or role we take on follows a structured onboarding process:
- Knowledge Transfer: Understanding existing systems, processes, and requirements.
- Integration: Embedding our specialists within the customer’s teams for seamless collaboration.
- Operations: Continuous support, optimization, and innovation to maintain and improve IT services.
This approach allows for flexibility and scalability, enabling our customer to adapt to changing business needs while maintaining high-performance IT operations.
What has been the impact of GDC Services’ support?
Enrique: Unlike projects with clear SLAs (Service Level Agreements), our impact is measured by the smoothness of daily operations. The most significant benefit Bridgestone gains from our services is stability and efficiency.
- Issues get resolved quickly without disruptions.
- Operations run seamlessly, reducing conflicts and bottlenecks.
- Translation of business requirements into technical conditions is clear for BAU teams.
- Bridgestone’s IT teams gain access to highly skilled professionals, ensuring high-quality service delivery.
Our customer continues to work with us because they recognize the value of our expertise, knowledge, and capabilities. Our work ensures that business-critical IT functions remain robust and optimized, making us a vital partner in their long-term success.
BAU services are provided from lower cost locations in Asia. Our experts are engaged to help streamline and manage the operational delivery and provide technical leadership, working closely with the customer’s own IT management teams. It’s a lower cost alternative compared to local consultancy companies and freelancers or building up their own teams in their regional HQs in Western Europe and North America.
Conclusion
This collaboration with GDC Services highlights the power of expert-driven IT outsourcing. By integrating highly skilled professionals into critical operational roles, we help companies navigate complex IT landscapes, manage vendors effectively, and optimize infrastructure across multiple regions.
As businesses increasingly look toward strategic outsourcing to enhance IT performance, partnerships like this demonstrate how expertise, adaptability, and long-term collaboration drive real business value.
