AI Use Permeates Dealmaking Despite Operational Concerns: SS&C Intralinks Report

Q1 2026 SS&C survey of 400+ global dealmakers finds AI is now embedded into most firms’ deal processes, but security, governance and operational gaps remain challenging

WINDSOR, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSNC) today announced the publication of SS&C Intralinks’ AI in Dealmaking: A Benchmark Study. In association with Reuters, SS&C Intralinks surveyed 400 global M&A dealmakers from private equity firms, corporates advisory firms and investment banks to see how AI is being adopted.

“With 90% of dealmakers already utilizing AI, the technology is moving faster than the industry’s current ability to manage it,” said Ken Bisconti, Co-Head of SS&C Intralinks. “The challenge now isn’t adoption, it’s control. Dealmakers are looking for a unified environment to govern and secure a multitude of AI tools, ensuring they are a seamless, protected part of the deal lifecycle rather than a liability.”

Key findings from the report include:

• More than 49% of dealmakers report AI is now fully integrated across deal stages, with a further 41% reporting at least partial integration. Just 10% remain in pilot or experimental projects.
• The typical deal team now employs 3-5 AI tools simultaneously, and almost a quarter of surveyed respondents now use 6 or more.
• AI is delivering measurable time savings across the deal lifecycle. The tools improve time savings of 21-30% in the due diligence phase, and at least 11% in the deal execution and deal screening phases.
• The majority of dealmakers give AI outputs a trust rating of 70% or above across all workstreams.

Despite increasing adoption of AI, several findings suggest there is room for improvement:

• More than 57% of respondents report senior-level resistance to AI has increased in the last 12 months, with decision makers expressing concerns about accuracy, explainability, fiduciary risk and client perception.
• 80% of dealmakers say they have experienced AI-related security and accuracy incidents or near-misses in the past 12 months. Incidents tended to cluster around access-control lapses (48%) and hallucinated outputs leading to inaccurate diligence (40%).
• Despite these concerns, more than 80% of dealmakers are comfortable with AI executing some multi-step workflows with minimal human intervention. Autonomous quality-of-earnings analysis is one of the most highly anticipated disruptions expected by 2030.
• More than half of respondents surveyed (54%) expect AI functionality to be included as a standard in dealmaking software.
• Nearly half of dealmakers (49%) prefer multiple specialized AI tools, each excelling at a specific function, over a single integrated platform (20%).

Click here to read the full report.

SS&C Intralinks is a pioneer of the virtual data room, delivering software-enabled services across the entire deal lifecycle, including deal marketing, deal prep, due diligence, insights and post-merger integration. Intralinks technology enables and secures the flow of information by facilitating M&A, capital raising and investor reporting. SS&C Intralinks has executed more than USD 35 trillion worth of financial transactions on its platform. DealCentre AI^TM from SS&C Intralinks is the first true AI-powered dealmaking platform built to transform every phase of the transaction lifecycle — from ideation through closing.

About SS&C Technologies

SS&C is a global provider of services and software for the financial services and healthcare industries. Founded in 1986, SS&C is headquartered in Windsor, Connecticut, and has offices around the world. More than 23,000 financial services and healthcare organizations, from the world's largest companies to small and mid-market firms, rely on SS&C for expertise, scale and technology.

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SS&C (Nasdaq: SSNC) is available at www.ssctech.com.

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