The End of Manual DDQs: How AI Is Reshaping General Partner Workflows
AI is redefining how fund managers approach DDQs — turning a resource drain into a competitive advantage.
The due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) is a critical component of the capital-raising process in alternative investments. It’s also a significant operational burden for general partners (GPs). As limited partners (LPs) demand increasingly detailed due diligence information, fund managers spend hundreds of hours each year manually gathering data and answering questions. This repetitive, time-consuming work diverts GPs’ most valuable resources from strategic, growth-focused activities.
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers a powerful solution. By automating key aspects of the DDQ process, AI-driven technology can help private market firms streamline workflows, reduce manual effort and respond to investor inquiries with greater speed and accuracy. This blog explores how AI is reshaping the DDQ process, and why these tools are now essential to maintaining a competitive edge.
Due diligence demands can strain internal resources
Investor demands for transparency have never been higher, as investors are digging deeper into everything from GPs’ investment strategies and track records to environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies. This increased scrutiny translates into longer, more complex and more frequent DDQ cycles.
For many fund managers, the process of responding is still highly manual and fragmented, often involving:
- Searching for information scattered across emails, spreadsheets, shared drives and past DDQs
- Repeatedly answering similar or identical questions
- Managing version control issues and delays as numerous subject matter experts provide input
- Dedicating significant project management resources to tracking deadlines, assigning tasks and ensuring responses are consistent and accurate
Relying on manual processes not only reduces productivity but also increases the risk of human error. Inconsistent or outdated answers can undermine investor confidence, while the sheer volume of work can create operational inefficiencies.
How AI automates and streamlines the DDQ process
AI technology is transforming the DDQ process from an administrative burden into a streamlined, intelligent workflow. Modern platforms powered by purpose-built AI models can analyze, categorize and generate accurate responses to investor questions with remarkable speed and efficiency.
Centralized knowledge management
AI-powered tools create a centralized knowledge library. This secure repository stores all your firm’s historical DDQ responses, fund documents and critical data. When a new questionnaire arrives, the AI can instantly search this library to find the most relevant and up-to-date answers — so you don't have to search through disparate systems.
Intelligent answer generation
Advanced AI goes beyond simply retrieving historical information. It can analyze incoming questions and suggest the best possible response from your knowledge base. The most advanced platforms can even pre-populate an entire DDQ draft, allowing your team to focus on reviewing, refining and customizing answers, rather than poring over historical data.
Seamless collaboration and workflows
AI-driven platforms provide a centralized, collaborative environment where teams can assign questions to key stakeholders, track progress in real time and manage approvals. This structured approach ensures every response is reviewed and vetted by the right people before it’s sent to an investor.
Why it matters for your firm
By automating time-consuming administrative tasks, AI frees your team to focus on higher-value work such as managing investments, developing strategy and strengthening investor relationships. Delivering fast, accurate and consistent responses showcases your professionalism and operational excellence. As your firm grows, AI scales seamlessly to handle a rising volume of DDQs without overburdening your team, simultaneously reducing operational risk by minimizing human error and safeguarding sensitive data.
SS&C Intralinks: leading the way in AI innovation
At SS&C Intralinks, we have a long history of leveraging AI to solve practical challenges across the transaction and fund lifecycles. Over the years, we have earned our reputation for providing secure, reliable and innovative solutions that the world’s top firms trust for their most sensitive business operations and deals.
Our commitment to innovation continues with new AI-powered features built specifically to tackle the unique challenges of the private markets. Link, our proprietary AI engine, delivers instant answers from your documents — transforming how your team accesses and uses information. Instead of searching through lengthy fund reports or legal agreements to find a specific data point for a DDQ, you can simply ask a question in plain language and receive a clear, contextual response in seconds. The result is faster insights, greater accuracy and a more intelligent, data-driven approach to due diligence that drives efficiency and builds investor confidence.
The future is automated
The pressure on fund managers is intensifying — and it’s here to stay. As investor expectations for transparency continue to grow, DDQs will remain a critical component of fund due diligence. Firms that continue to rely on manual processes will only find it harder to keep up.