Many businesses today are overwhelmed by data but struggle to turn it into clear, actionable insights. Without the right systems and expertise, data remains underused, leading to slow decisions, missed opportunities, and unclear strategies. This is where strong product data engineering plays a vital role. By building reliable, scalable data systems and transforming raw information into meaningful insights, companies can better understand customer behavior, run smarter experiments, and align their actions with business goals.
Without these capabilities, teams often rely on guesswork, face delays, and miss key growth opportunities. Fortunately, dynamic leaders in data and analytics are changing that narrative by bringing clarity, purpose, and strategic thinking, ensuring data isn’t just collected but used to drive real impact, faster decisions, and long-term success.
One such leader is Kanak Kanti Roy, Principal Data Engineer at LatentView Analytics, who plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between data and decision-making. With a career grounded in solving real-world problems—from delivering analytics services at Infosys for Apple’s media ecosystem to leading data science engineering initiatives at Apple—Kanak blends technical depth with a clear business vision.
At LatentView, he leads the development of scalable, cloud-native data systems that support experimentation, behavioral analytics, and growth modeling for global platforms like YouTube. His work transforms raw behavioral data into strategic insights that empower teams to make smarter, faster decisions. A standout achievement in his career includes building an Uplift Model for Apple Arcade, which enhanced user engagement by accurately targeting the right users with personalized outreach.
This milestone reflects his commitment to building intelligent systems that deliver real business outcomes, going beyond mere efficiency. His work with Apple, which included developing the Uplift model, exemplifies this focus. This commitment aligns with LatentView’s mission to drive data-led digital transformation.
From Infosys to Innovation
Kanak Kanti Roy’s career has been shaped by a strong curiosity for systems and a passion for solving real-world business problems through data. Starting his career at Infosys, he supported Apple’s media products ecosystem, where he gained hands-on experience building analytics solutions at enterprise scale. It was here he discovered the power of reliable, flexible data systems—not just to process information, but to drive meaningful outcomes.
To bridge technical work and business strategy, he pursued a Master’s in Business Analytics with a focus on Data Science, gaining a strategic perspective and technical depth. He then joined Apple as a Data Science Engineer, leading large-scale analytics projects that enhanced user experiences and informed product design.
His interest in behavioral analytics, causal inference, and experimentation led him to LatentView, where he works closely with Google’s YouTube Growth, Marketing and Analytics teams. His role combines strategic experimentation, product growth, and building intelligent systems that help platforms evolve responsibly.
Throughout his journey, Kanak has remained focused on using data not just to inform, but to create clarity, drive growth, and deliver meaningful business impact.
Delivering Impactful, Long-Term Solutions
Kanak Kanti Roy focuses on turning raw behavioral data into actionable insights that support large-scale experimentation, growth modeling, and user analytics for platforms like YouTube.
He builds cloud-native, high-performance systems designed to handle massive data volumes efficiently. More than just the tech, his work aims to uncover what drives user behavior and guide smarter product and marketing decisions.
This aligns with LatentView’s mission of driving digital transformation through data, not just presenting information, but enabling faster, smarter decisions that lead to real business growth. From refining recommendation engines to launching experimentation frameworks, Kanak Kanti Roy ensures every insight is impactful, scalable, and aligned with long-term goals.
Technical Expertise Meets Business Impact
LatentView stands out for its ability to turn data into real business decisions. Unlike many firms that stop at dashboards or models, LatentView embeds analytics into the heart of decision-making.
What sets LatentView Analytics apart:
- Embeds analytics into core decision-making, not just dashboards
- Combines deep technical expertise with business problem-solving
- Innovates continuously with GenAI, data stacks, and experimentation
- Prioritizes scale without sacrificing quality
- Fosters a culture of curiosity, ownership, and impact
A Breakthrough Project at Apple
During Kanak Kanti Roy’s time at Apple, he worked on a standout project that involved developing and implementing an Uplift Model for Apple Arcade, specifically targeting users eligible for hardware-linked offers. The project was a strong combination of data science, product strategy, and user experience design.
The model categorized users into four distinct groups: Persuadables, who are likely to take action if messaged; Sure Things, who would act even without a message; Lost Causes, unlikely to respond regardless of contact; and Defiers, who might react negatively or do the opposite if contacted. This targeted strategy yielded several key outcomes, including a higher number of user signups, greater efficiency in communication, fewer unnecessary messages, and an enhanced customer experience.
Furthermore, it paved the way for broader application of uplift modeling across engagement, acquisition, and retention efforts. Ultimately, this project powerfully demonstrated how data precision can lead to smarter business decisions, improved customer experiences, and more empathetic communication.
Curiosity, Clarity, and Empathy
Kanak Kanti Roy believes dynamic leaders in data and analytics combine curiosity, clarity, and empathy. They stay ahead of trends like generative AI and real-time analytics—not to follow hype, but to create real business value.
To him, strong leaders simplify complexity and connect technical work to strategic goals. They lead confidently but remain flexible, adapting as needed based on data insights.
Empathy and ethics are central to their approach. Kanak Kanti Roy emphasizes building systems that are powerful, fair, inclusive, and people-focused.
In his view, dynamic leaders aren’t just experts—they’re clear thinkers, effective communicators, and purposeful innovators who drive meaningful impact through data.
A Daily Habit of Learning
Staying ahead in the fast-moving world of data and analytics is about thinking ahead and learning continuously. Kanak treats learning as a daily habit—reading, experimenting with new tools, following industry leaders, and engaging with professionals across sectors.
Rather than chasing every trend, he focuses on what truly matters. He evaluates innovations like real-time analytics, data mesh, or Generative AI based on real-world impact, scalability, and alignment with business goals.
His approach starts with small experiments—pilots, POCs, and sandbox testing—and scales only what proves effective. Whether applying GenAI for content or redesigning pipelines with serverless tech, he ensures innovation always meets practical execution.
Above all, Kanak values working with diverse, curious teams. He highlights transformation comes from shared exploration and disciplined growth—keeping his work impactful and ahead of the curve.
Simplifying Complexity
Kanak faced a big challenge during a fast-moving product update at Apple’s App Store. The team needed to quickly share key user engagement metrics to support a new feature launch. While setting up the data pipelines wasn’t too hard, the real challenge was working with several fast-paced teams and still keeping the data accurate.
To solve this, Kanak kept things simple. He focused only on the most important metrics, used tools to catch problems early, and stayed closely connected with the product and engineering teams. He also made reporting self-serve so everyone could access the insights on their own without waiting.
The launch went smoothly, and the timely data helped teams make quick improvements that boosted user engagement. For Kanak Kanti Roy, the biggest takeaway was this: it’s not about having more data—it’s about having the right data, at the right time, for the right people.
Focus on Adoption, Latency, Reliability, and Scalability
Kanak highlights success in data teams goes beyond building clean pipelines or fast queries—it’s about enabling better decisions that drive real business impact. His team focuses on key metrics like adoption, latency, reliability, and scalability to ensure their systems are effective and used consistently.
But technical performance is only part of the story. What matters most is whether their insights lead to action. If an experiment improves engagement or a model shapes a winning campaign, that’s success. They also measure trust—when stakeholders return with more questions and rely on the team for strategic decisions, it shows true impact.
For Kanak Kanti Roy, the mission is simple: use data to deliver real, measurable results that help teams move faster, think smarter, and build better.
Cross-Functional Collaboration is Key to Data Success
Cross-functional collaboration is essential, not optional. Kanak believes the most successful data solutions aren’t just technically advanced—they’re built through strong partnerships across teams. Recalling his work on the App Store at Apple, he highlights how collaboration with product, design, marketing, and engineering made the data efforts truly effective. Without that alignment, even great data systems risk missing real business needs. Kanak stresses that true impact comes from shared ownership—when teams help shape a solution, they’re more likely to trust and use it, turning good projects into meaningful change.
Intent Matters
Kanak encourages newcomers in the analytics and tech space to stay curious—but with focus. He stresses the importance of understanding why you’re learning something, not just what you’re learning. For him, strong fundamentals in data engineering, statistics, and system design are essential, because while tools will change, solid thinking never goes out of style.
He also urges early professionals to move beyond just creating outputs like dashboards and reports, and instead focus on outcomes—using data to drive real decisions and deliver business value.
For those stepping into leadership, Kanak Kanti Roy advises leading with clarity and listening with intent. He believes great leaders create an environment where teams can explore, ask questions, and align their work with meaningful goals.
Most importantly, he reminds every professional not to forget the human side of technology. Behind every system is a person impacted by it, and keeping that in mind leads to more thoughtful, impactful solutions.
Real-Time Experimentation
Looking ahead, Kanak is excited by how data science and analytics are becoming more proactive, people-focused, and strategic. The focus is shifting from analyzing the past to predicting and shaping the future using tools like causal inference, behavioral modeling, and real-time experimentation, enabling faster, smarter decisions at scale.
He also sees a growing emphasis on ethical, transparent, and inclusive data practices as AI and automation become more widespread.
Generative AI is transforming how users interact with data, making insights more accessible through natural language, storytelling, and smart recommendations, even for non-technical users.
Overall, data is evolving from a support function to a growth driver—powering better products, improved customer experiences, and long-term success, while giving data leaders the chance to lead with purpose and integrity.
Asking the Right Questions Matters
Kanak Kanti Roy emphasizes strong leadership isn’t about chasing every trend or adopting every new tool. Instead, it’s about leading with clarity and purpose. The most effective leaders are those who ask the right questions, challenge assumptions, and create space for their teams to solve meaningful problems.
As organizations grow and build more automated, intelligent systems, Kanak emphasizes the importance of never losing sight of the human impact behind the technology. For him, great data leaders strike a powerful balance between technical excellence and empathy—remaining curious, acting with integrity, and staying focused on outcomes that genuinely matter.
He sums it up simply:
“Don’t just follow the data—lead it toward meaningful change.”
Kanak Kanti Roy’s leadership philosophy is grounded in three core principles:
- Clarity: Simplifying the complex so teams can align and execute faster
- Empathy: Understanding the people behind the data and listening deeply
- Intentionality: Ensuring each decision supports long-term business value
He doesn’t view leadership as a title, but as a responsibility—to empower people, solve real problems, and build systems that perform and elevate.
5 Powerful Business Mantras from Kanak Kanti Roy
- Let data guide decisions: Information is only useful if it helps you take the right actions.
- Simplify to Scale: Cut complexity to build systems that grow.
- People Power Performance: Collaboration builds smarter, more effective solutions.
- Learn with Purpose: Stay curious, but focus on what drives impact.
- Lead with Clarity and Care: Ask better questions. Empower with empathy.
