Preet Saxena : Leadership Profile & Achievements

Preet Saxena is a Data & Analytics leader with over 16 years of versatile experience in analytics, strategy, market intelligence, consulting, Intellectual property research and project management. A biotechnology engineer and Post Grad in Patent Law, Preet has worked with top companies, including Evalueserve, Fractal Analytics and her current employer, Concentrix. Currently, Preet leads the products, offerings, and solutions team of Data & Analytics practice within Concentrix.

Preet is renowned for her expertise and achievements, as she worked with many clients across geographies and has experience and expertise from analytics technology to business understanding and analytics deployment for informed business decisions. Preet had set up and managed teams of data scientists, who deliver advanced analytics solutions such as consumer pulse analytics, campaign analytics, recommender engines for next best action, text mining, machine learning, and cross-sell strategies to name a few, across brands and product portfolios. With hands-on and detailed experience of advanced analytics techniques, Preet worked with senior leadership on solving business challenges and acquiring new clients.

In Concentrix she got wide exposure, by supporting the sales team to have tech discussions with clients as SME, also support technical solutioning team to size the deal by providing SME inputs for resourcing, tools, platforms, deliverables/outcomes. She is responsible for building practice and competency, by bringing in standardization and innovation to take the offerings to next level and keeping a close eye on Industry & competition. She also participated in analyst interactions – Everest, Forrester, Nelson Hall and represented Data & Analytics capabilities.

She was recognized as the "Women in AI Leadership Award – 2022" by Analytics India Magazine and the "Emerging Leader in AI" by Data World Summit 2022. I also received the "President Club Award" in Concentrix, which is the highest accolade given to an individual among the top 1% of talents across the globe in the organization.

Preet is also Section4 certified Data & Analytics, for building analytics strategy under the leadership of Thomas H. Davenport, who is a well celebrated analytics industry leader. His strategic ideas really inspired her to implement them in real-life tech projects.

There are quite a few leaders within her organization like Hari Sarvanabhavan, who really inspired her to pursue and progress her career in AI and technology. Visualization is another area in which she is truly inspired by Hans Rosling. He is a gem to narrate data driven stories.

Experiences:

AI has been growing and evolving rapidly and increasing its application in making our lives easier and more simplified. However, the recent advancement in data, storage techniques, algorithms, and computational power further accelerated the entire process. Preet was inclined to analyze and interpret data at the very initial stage of her life and visual storytelling has always been her forte. The power to solve complex problems across the value chain – descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive keeps her motivated. With the emergence of deep learning techniques, the possibilities to apply the same are widened – from healthcare to automotive.

Analyzing data patterns, interpreting results, and applying them in the business, is the most critical aspects of any tech project value chain. One can build 1000 models, but the key lies in its applicability to bring in real-life impact. Many model builds are never deployed. Hence, translation of analytical outputs, leading to better business outcomes, drove her to choose this technology arena.

With the advancements of Generative AI and endless opportunities it brings to the table, one can have a use case for almost any scenario and industry. Technology is so fast evolving, that you must wear the learning hat all the time and show nimbleness to bring yourself on board with learning, adapting, and delivering results using new technologies. So, a complete mindset shift is needed.

There is a transition happening and more women are opting for STEM subjects now and she can foresee this positive transition will be accelerated one or 2 generations down the line for reasons such as lucrative jobs, competitive packages, more corporates having easy policies for women employees, flexible working hours, flexible work locations, increase in day-care facilities, etc. All these changes will gradually transform the ecosystem and the perception of picking up a tech career.

More and more tech firms are now supporting Diversity, Equality & Inclusion in their culture. And as per her, organizations that have such diverse cultures and women leaders' presence across the hierarchy take great decisions and are successful.

On a Personal front, Preet is married with two daughters who are K-Pop fans. She is a yoga enthusiast and practices the same every day early morning. She feel this is the fuel that gives her energy to sail through all her day and juggle effectively between her professional and personal life.