Watch on YouTube HERE. AI is supposed to make organizations faster, smarter, and more efficient. So why can adding more AI actually make enterprise contracting more expensive? In this episode of Contractually Speaking, our host Matt Patel sits down with Naresh Kommula, an expert in enterprise CLM, contract intelligence, and procurement technology, to explore the hidden costs of fragmented AI adoption—and why solving one department's problem at a time can create a much bigger enterprise problem. As AI capabilities have become easier and less expensive to access, legal, procurement, finance, sales, compliance, and other teams can increasingly adopt their own specialized tools. Individually, those decisions may make perfect sense. Across an enterprise, however, they can result in duplicated technology, inconsistent contract interpretations, fragmented data, increased complexity, and higher total cost of ownership. Naresh introduces his Contract Obligation Intelligence Framework (COIF), an operating model designed around a different approach: aligning teams around shared contract intelligence, creating a governed contract data layer, and enabling departments to work from consistent, trusted information. Matt and Naresh also explore how the role of CLM is changing. Instead of simply managing contract workflows, organizations can use AI and commercial intelligence to understand how thousands of contractual commitments could affect revenue, risk, supplier relationships, compliance, and strategic planning. From tariffs and fuel prices to acquisitions and unexpected global events, the real opportunity isn't simply using AI to review another contract faster. It's being able to ask questions across the entire contract portfolio—and get useful answers when the business needs them. 🔑 Key Takeaways: Why the rush to adopt AI can actually increase enterprise costs How departmental AI tools create technology and data fragmentation The danger of multiple AI systems interpreting the same contract differently Why AI governance should come before—not after—implementation How commercial intelligence can connect legal, sales, procurement, and finance Using contract data to prepare for tariffs, price increases, supply-chain disruption, and other business events 📎 FREE: Download Naresh's whitepaper: CLICK HERE 👉 Subscribe and listen to Contractually Speaking on the platform of your choice: https://podcast.malbek.io 🎙️ Interested in being a guest or sponsoring the show? We’d love to hear from you—email us at podcast@malbek.io 💡 Learn more about Malbek: https://malbek.io
