ENA Khurana: Driving AI-Driven Success In Business & Workforce
ENA Khurana
Chief People Officer
A Post-graduate of XIM Bhubaneswar, Ena Khurana’s career began with the Aditya Birla Group at Ultratech Cement before she co-founded KIE Square Analytics in 2008. Under her leadership, the company has become a pioneer in Data Science and technology. In addition to her role as CPO, Ena is actively involved in setting up the KIE Square Foundation to drive socio-economic initiatives, aiming to make a broader impact beyond the business world. Ena’s approach to leadership is grounded in continuous improvement, both personally and professionally. Her passion for empowering others, creating meaningful impact, and giving back to her community drives her forward every day, inspiring those around her.
Let’s dive into this one-on-one inte -raction to know more.
Tell us about the significance of aligning HR operations with an organi-zation's overall strategy.
HR operations must be closely aligned with an organization’s strategy to foster sustainable growth, innovation, and employee engagement. A strategic HR function ensures that talent acquisition, development, and retention are closely tied to business objectives, cultivating a culture of accountability, agility,
and high performance. By integrating workforce planning with the company’s needs, HR helps the organization adapt to a rapidly changing market. Beyond policies, HR plays a key role in shaping the employee experience, ensuring that rewards, well-being, and career development are aligned with long-term success, thus serving as a crucial driver of competitive advantage.
What are the latest industry trends and approaches you’ve implemented in the company to effectively train employees and maximize their potential? What growth opportunities can employees look forward to?
At our company, we embrace industry-leading trends to enhance employee training and development. Focusing on productized data science, data engineering, and AI-led BI services, we provide AI-driven training, continuous upskilling in MLOps, cloud computing, and automation. We promote agile methodo -logies, no-code AI tools, and data governance practices for greater efficiency. Employees can grow through leadership roles, innovation sprints, cross-functional collaboration, and contributing to AI-driven decision making products. We offer personalized learning paths using AI-based platforms that align with career goals and skills, while fostering continuous feedback for ongoing performance improvement and career progression in a dynamic, evolving industry.
How do you stay informed about current industry trends to guide your organization towards future success?
Staying ahead of industry trends is crucial for driving innovation and growth. We achieve this by continuously tracking emerging trends in AI, data engineering, and marketing analytics through industry reports, webinars, and research papers. Participation in global data science and AI conferences keeps us updated on evolving methodologies. We promote a culture of learning and upskilling within our team, offering certifications, hands-on experimentation, and internal knowledge-sharing sessions. Innovation credits incentivize employees to explore new tools and automation techniques. By collaborating with clients, we refine our data science offerings to address real-world challenges and market needs. Monitoring
Ena is redefining sustainable growth through AI-driven solutions, empowered people, and a future-ready, impact first culture
What are the latest industry trends and approaches you’ve implemented in the company to effectively train employees and maximize their potential? What growth opportunities can employees look forward to?
At our company, we embrace industry-leading trends to enhance employee training and development. Focusing on productized data science, data engineering, and AI-led BI services, we provide AI-driven training, continuous upskilling in MLOps, cloud computing, and automation. We promote agile methodo -logies, no-code AI tools, and data governance practices for greater efficiency. Employees can grow through leadership roles, innovation sprints, cross-functional collaboration, and contributing to AI-driven decision making products. We offer personalized learning paths using AI-based platforms that align with career goals and skills, while fostering continuous feedback for ongoing performance improvement and career progression in a dynamic, evolving industry.
How do you stay informed about current industry trends to guide your organization towards future success?
Staying ahead of industry trends is crucial for driving innovation and growth. We achieve this by continuously tracking emerging trends in AI, data engineering, and marketing analytics through industry reports, webinars, and research papers. Participation in global data science and AI conferences keeps us updated on evolving methodologies. We promote a culture of learning and upskilling within our team, offering certifications, hands-on experimentation, and internal knowledge-sharing sessions. Innovation credits incentivize employees to explore new tools and automation techniques. By collaborating with clients, we refine our data science offerings to address real-world challenges and market needs. Monitoring
impact metrics ensures we enhance efficiency and business outcomes, keeping us proactive in seizing new opportunities.
Can you share some of the most challenging obstacles you’ve faced in your journey so far? How did you navigate them, and what lessons did you learn along the way?
Our journey as a data science organization has been shaped by numerous challenges that required a balance of innovation, adaptability and financial sustainability. One of the toughest challenges we’ve faced has been navigating the rapidly evolving technological landscape, making it essential for us to innovate continuously. To address this, we foster a culture of ongoing learning, using Innovation Credits to encourage employees to upskill, experiment, and adopt new technologies. We also pivoted toward productized data science offerings, which allowed us to scale efficiently without heavy customization costs. Additionally, managing rising salary expectations in a competitive market led us to introduce personalized financial wellness plans. Adapting to changing skillsets and maintaining productivity in a flexible culture also required us to implement mentorship programs, self paced learning, and measurable impact metrics to ensure alignment with business goals.
What is the future path you are aiming for?
I envision our organization becoming a leader in productized AI-driven decision-making solutions for brand management, marketing analytics, and data engineering. We aim to build a scalable, impact-driven ecosystem where AI-led BI services and data lake products provide real-time intelligence to businesses. Internally, we're fostering a future-ready workforce through Innovation Credits, impact-based timelines, and flexible work arrangements. By prioritizing profitability and people-first values, we’re redefining sustainable growth in data science, supported by strong collaboration between HR and leadership to drive performance and employee well-being.
Ena Khurana, Chief People Officer, KiE Square Analy- tics
With over 20 years of experience in corporate strategy, organizational building, and HR management, Ena Khurana is the Chief People Officer at KIE Square Analytics. She co-founded the company, leading its growth while fostering innovation and employee development.
Can you share some of the most challenging obstacles you’ve faced in your journey so far? How did you navigate them, and what lessons did you learn along the way?
Our journey as a data science organization has been shaped by numerous challenges that required a balance of innovation, adaptability and financial sustainability. One of the toughest challenges we’ve faced has been navigating the rapidly evolving technological landscape, making it essential for us to innovate continuously. To address this, we foster a culture of ongoing learning, using Innovation Credits to encourage employees to upskill, experiment, and adopt new technologies. We also pivoted toward productized data science offerings, which allowed us to scale efficiently without heavy customization costs. Additionally, managing rising salary expectations in a competitive market led us to introduce personalized financial wellness plans. Adapting to changing skillsets and maintaining productivity in a flexible culture also required us to implement mentorship programs, self paced learning, and measurable impact metrics to ensure alignment with business goals.
What is the future path you are aiming for?
I envision our organization becoming a leader in productized AI-driven decision-making solutions for brand management, marketing analytics, and data engineering. We aim to build a scalable, impact-driven ecosystem where AI-led BI services and data lake products provide real-time intelligence to businesses. Internally, we're fostering a future-ready workforce through Innovation Credits, impact-based timelines, and flexible work arrangements. By prioritizing profitability and people-first values, we’re redefining sustainable growth in data science, supported by strong collaboration between HR and leadership to drive performance and employee well-being.
Ena Khurana, Chief People Officer, KiE Square Analy- tics
With over 20 years of experience in corporate strategy, organizational building, and HR management, Ena Khurana is the Chief People Officer at KIE Square Analytics. She co-founded the company, leading its growth while fostering innovation and employee development.