Management calls?

For those of you working on the discretionary side, have you found any use in calls with management of companies you're looking to invest in? One of my favorite books is "Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits", and Philip Fisher really hits home the importance that "scuttlebutt" plays in his investing strategy. However, it seems that increased regulation has made it a heavy chore, at best, to speak with company management due to the risks that they'll reveal MNPI and potentially make any investment legally suspicious.

Are there still any legitimate benefits to calling company management in your due diligence workflows? How do funds try to prevent the unintentional receipt of MNPI aside from just telling them "please don't share any material non-public information with us" and hope that they don't inadvertently spit anything out?