On May 8, 2025, Preql joined finance leaders from across the country at the World Finance Forum in Dallas for a day of big ideas, practical conversations, and clear-eyed perspective on where the finance function is headed.

Preql Co-Founder and CEO Leah Weiss took the stage to deliver one of the day’s most actionable and down-to-earth talks—a straight-talking breakdown of what it really means to be “AI-ready” in today’s finance organization.

Spoiler: it doesn’t start with AI. It starts with your data.

What we heard

Three key takeaways resonated with the World Finance Forum audience:

‍AI is not a plug-and-play solution. Without centralized, structured data, even the most powerful AI tools will fall flat. Fragmented systems and inconsistent definitions create more confusion, not clarity.

‍Clean data is the real unlock. Leah laid out a practical, three-part framework for getting AI-ready: consolidate your data, curate it into usable models, and apply a semantic layer to standardize definitions across the business.

‍Implement the right AI tools. The strongest use cases don’t start with buzzwords. They start with bottlenecks: the places where finance teams are stuck doing repetitive work or chasing down disconnected data. That’s where automation can make the biggest difference.

From hype to strategy

With AI dominating headlines, many finance teams are under pressure to “do something with it.” But as Leah pointed out, diving into AI without a solid data foundation is like putting a jet engine on a bicycle:

“If your data is fragmented, inconsistent, or still lives in spreadsheets, no AI solution is going to deliver the results you're hoping for. The foundational work isn’t flashy — but it’s what makes everything else possible.”

Her message landed clearly: before AI can unlock insights or automation, finance teams need to centralize their data, clean it, and define key metrics in a consistent, repeatable way.

She also challenged teams to own their role in this transformation—not to wait for data or IT teams to “handle the hard stuff,” but to take a leadership role in shaping how data is defined, structured, and used across the business: “Finance teams shouldn’t be sitting on the sidelines of AI. You know the business, you know the numbers, and you know where the friction is. That puts you in the perfect position to lead.”

Building the future of finance

In a time when AI is more often marketed than understood, Leah’s talk stood out for its clarity and practicality. 

As conversations continued well beyond the session, it was clear the momentum is there—finance leaders aren’t just thinking about what’s next. They’re ready to build it.