Podcast · Episode

Transforming contract management and source to pay with AI.

Jesal Mehta, Aavenir's founder and Chief Executive Officer, talks with Mohamed Reza about how AI should be adopted in steps, why the real work starts after signature, and four pieces of advice for teams starting out.

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Summary

What is this episode about?

Jesal Mehta explains that the name Aavenir comes from the French for "future", and sets out three things that make the company different: its apps run on the ServiceNow platform for a faster time to value, it puts user experience first, and it has been AI first from the start.

He describes customer expectations moving past the standard features of creating, searching and reporting on contracts. People buy software to save cost, make more money or stay out of trouble on risk and compliance, and AI now helps contract teams do all three.

He also argues that signing is only the beginning: "The real business starts after the signatures are done." Obligations negotiated into a contract need owners and tracking, or their value is lost.

Adopt AI in steps: crawl, walk, run
Finding contracts comes first, then extracting terms, then automated review
Obligation management is where contract value is kept
Contract management and risk management should share data in both directions
Pick the platform first, and plan for user adoption

Episode

Watch the episode.

15:50Interview Interview with Aavenir's CEO on contract management and S2P on ServiceNow

AI maturity

An AI maturity model for contracts.

Jesal advises against a big bang. Each step builds on the one before it.

1. Find contracts

Use AI to find the right agreement quickly, the feature contract users ask for most.

AI contract search

2. Extract the terms

Pull metadata, clauses and obligations, especially from third party paper.

AI extraction

3. Review automatically

Then add automated review, clause deviation checks and suggested redlines.

Meet Avy

Alongside: ask questions

A conversational assistant lets legal and business users ask about any contract.

See Atlas

After signature

Why obligations and risk belong in the conversation

Most attention goes to drafting, negotiation and signature, yet Jesal calls that only a fraction of the contract lifecycle. Teams negotiate every term, then rely on people to remember them. Obligation management extracts those commitments and puts them into a workflow, so service level agreements and the financial penalties tied to them are tracked.

He describes a two way link between contract management and governance, risk and compliance. A nonstandard clause, such as a governing law that changed from New York to Texas in negotiation, raises risk that should flow into the risk system. In the other direction, when a supplier's performance crosses a risk threshold, the next contract should carry clauses that cover it.

Extract obligations and give each one an owner
Feed nonstandard clauses into your risk process
Bring supplier risk back into the next negotiation

Advice

Four pieces of advice for starting a contract management project.

Choose the platform first

Decide which systems contracts must talk to and which platform you prefer, before features.

Built on ServiceNow

Stay on the journey with your vendor

A vendor does not simply switch the system on. Work through it together, step by step.

Fix the process first

Technology speeds up a good process and makes a broken one worse.

Measure user adoption

Set internal measures that show people are using the new system.

Speakers

Who is in the conversation.

Jesal Mehta

Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Aavenir

Mohamed Reza, host

Vice President, Marketing, Aavenir

Next step

Want to see it on your own contracts?

Bring a few sample agreements and we will show you Aavenir AI reading them, on ServiceNow or standalone.

Schedule a Demo

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Common questions

What AI maturity model does Jesal Mehta describe?

Start with AI that helps people find contracts, then extract metadata, clauses and obligations, then add automated review, clause deviation checks and redlining. A conversational assistant can run alongside every step. He advises a crawl, walk, run approach rather than a big bang. See AI contract extraction.

Why does obligation management matter after signature?

The commitments a team negotiates only pay off if someone tracks them. Obligation management extracts each obligation, such as a service level agreement with penalties attached, and puts it into a workflow with an owner and a due date, so nothing depends on memory alone. See Obligationflow.

What advice does the episode give teams starting a contract management project?

Choose the platform first, stay closely involved with your vendor through the rollout, fix your processes before automating them, and set internal measures for user adoption. Jesal notes that these hold for buying any enterprise application, not only contract software. Read the implementation guide.

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