Navigating the AI Landscape: Data Quality and Governance Challenges

Now many companies are not quite ready for artificial intelligence when it comes to their data.

A new survey from Workiva shows that nearly 2/3 of practitioners say they lack high quality data to use AI effectively in their organizations.

Now those who are confident in their AI strategy are about twice as likely to have reliable data and roles specific trading.

The gap in data quality and challenges with governance and controls are apparent, while companies are optimistic and. about AI.

There are real challenges they need to overcome.

Well, joining me to weigh in here at the New York Stock Exchange is Steve Soter, VP and industry principal at work.

Steve, great to have you here.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you.

Well, we're here at the New York Stock Exchange, and the trading session is underway.

But when we're talking about organizations, both public as well as private, you got some key results from this research, didn't you?

So what surprised you the most about the data?

Well, first off, they're excited about AI.

74% of the respondents said that they're using AI every single day at work, and 88% said that they're getting more value from AI this year than they were a year ago, and that's over 2300 global professionals that took the survey.

And you mentioned it in your intro.

The thing that surprised me the most is that 2/3 lacked security and governance policies, high quality data, and role specific training.

To me that signals some challenges ahead.

And speaking of challenges, 2025 has been quite the unprecedented year.

So when we're talking about corporate performance, what did you see reflected in your data?

Well, what we saw is that you know there is more data available to CFOs than ever before, and the expectations of CFOs are higher than they ever have been before due to macroeconomic factors and all the things that we're seeing that we're talking about.

CFOs are feeling the pressure.

The thing is is that they've got to be able to take that data and use that in order to make decisions, and they've got to do it quickly and rapidly.

Those expectations aren't going away, and CFOs who are able to navigate that with assured trusted data, those are going to be the ones that are going to stand out in this environment.

Yeah, and Steve, how should investors be reading into both the risks as well as the opportunities?

Well, I think what investors need to do is be looking at the narrative, be looking at the dialogue.

Investors are pretty smart.

There's a smell test where they may have confidence or maybe a little less confidence in.

Of the disclosures, confidence is contagious when a CFO is sharing their story.

Investors can tell that whether that's in a narrative form or whether they're talking about it, and that comes from that data that's assured, that's trusted, and that leverages all the sources of the data they have.

I hear CFOs out there saying I am drowning in data but starving for insights.

To me that tells me that there's a little bit of a gap needed in order to get that kind of confidence that's going to come across to investors.

Yeah, so can you expand on that a little bit because of course we are overwhelmed with data right on a daily basis and we have access to.

Much information.

So how do you actually go about finding those insights?

Well, I think, you know, let's take tariffs and taxes as an example.

If you're a large multinational company, that data exists all over the world.

That's going to exist in various operational centers.

You might have shared service centers.

You might have operations spread out across the globe.

If there's a new tariff announcement or there's going to be a change, CFOs don't have a week or a month, for example, to perform that analysis.

They need to get that data now and they need to be able to rely on it.

That's how again those CFOs are going to outperform, and it's being able to identify that data, collect it, gather it, and be able to put it to use for decision making.

Yeah, and time is of the essence, isn't it, because the expectation is that with technologies, especially when we're talking about artificial intelligence, is that we have all the data, all the insights at our fingertips.

But I do want to ask you about how all of this impacts valuation because we are looking at key sectors elevated as we head into the final quarter of 2025.

Well, we've certainly seen Even this morning, AI stocks are up.

There's a lot of optimism about AI, and it's certainly the conversations that we're hearing from our customers.

I think again back to our earlier question about some of the dangers and challenges ahead and how that might impact evaluation.

What companies are finding is that role specific AI, that's what's going to drive the most value to me.

AI is actually a talent conversation and it's not a conversation about replacing talent.

It's a conversation about unleash. talent, but without governance and security, without role specific training, and without access to high quality data, again, it might be at your fingertips, but are you really going to be able to trust it as a CFO, trust it for decision making, and trust that there might be some kind of or there might not be some kind of breach or something else that might be publicly embarrassing?

Those are the conversations that CFOs are having, and I think investors are paying really close attention to that in order to impact the valuations appropriately.

Yeah, so based on your conversations, Steve, what do you think CFOs really need to be doing in the current environment?

Well, it does go back to data and it goes back to AI, no surprise, and we've already talked about that.

The first is identifying those sources of data, getting them onto a unified platform so that they not only have access to it, but they trust it, but then also identify any AI that's going to improve core business processes.

When we're talking to our customers, those who are using it successfully, it's not about identity.

Finding cool generic stuff that AI can do.

It's about AI that is actually making a difference in the core business processes day in and day out.

CFOs who are able to do that are able to transform their talent in remarkable ways, and that's going to come across over time in performance and evaluations, higher revenue, reduced expenses, all the things that CFOs are expected to do.

And finally, Steve, before I let you go, tell me about the role of oversight.

Why is it so important?

I'm sorry, the role of oversight.

Oh well, because you don't want anything embarrassing to happen.

One of the issues with generic off the shelf AI is there's a question about do I want to expose my data to that?

What is that tool going to do?

Is it being used to train?

May it go somewhere that I Expect what we find is that people who are using a platform that they can trust that's already gone through security, that's already gone through governance risks and mitigation controls, those are the ones that are going to be able to mitigate those risks as opposed to opening up into an environment they're not familiar with.

OK, Steve, wonderful conversation.

Thank you so much for joining me here at the New York Stock Exchange.

It was a pleasure.