If your firm has been using DealCloud for any length of time, you have already done a lot of work to build it out. Hundreds of accounts. Thousands of contacts. Relationship history your team depends on every day. The idea of connecting a new data integration and having to manually match every one of those existing records to its Dakota counterpart is enough to make anyone put the project on the back burner.
That is exactly why we built Linking & Syncing. It is our done-for-you setup service that handles the initial connection between your existing DealCloud records and Dakota Marketplace data, so your team starts with a clean, fully connected CRM from day one without any of the manual work. For a full overview of our DealCloud integration, start with Does Dakota Have a DealCloud Integration? For broader CRM adoption guidance, visit our CRM resource hub.
The Problem Linking & Syncing Solves
DealCloud users face a specific challenge when connecting a new data integration: naming conventions. Your DealCloud might have "UMass" while we have "University of Massachusetts Endowment." Your team might have entered a family office under a principal's name rather than the firm name. A broker-dealer might be listed under a parent company in your CRM and under a subsidiary in ours.
These differences are completely normal, but they create a real problem. If you simply push Dakota data into your DealCloud without accounting for them, you end up with duplicate records for the same entity. Two accounts for the same allocator. Conflicting data. A team that does not know which record to trust. Maintaining clean CRM data is one of the hardest ongoing challenges investment firms face, and getting the initial connection right is the most important step toward solving it.
Linking & Syncing handles this before it becomes a problem. Our team does the matching work for you, accounting for naming convention differences across your entire existing DealCloud dataset so nothing gets duplicated.
How the Process Works
Linking & Syncing follows a clear, straightforward process that requires minimal effort from your team:
Step 1: You send us an export. Share a file of the accounts and contacts in your DealCloud that you believe already exist in Dakota Marketplace. This does not need to be perfect or exhaustive. Our team is used to working with messy exports and inconsistent formatting.
Step 2: We run the matching process. Our development team goes through a matching process based on multiple fields including account name, phone number, website, CRD number, and more. We are looking for the connections a simple name match would miss, which is exactly where the duplicate problem lives.
Step 3: We send the file back for your review. Before anything is connected, you see exactly what we matched and have the opportunity to approve it. If something looks off, you flag it before the connection is built. Nothing gets connected without your sign-off.
Step 4: We build all the connections on the back end. Once you approve the match file, our team connects everything for you. No further action needed on your end.
Step 5: Data starts flowing in real time. From that point forward, every linked record receives automatic updates from Dakota Marketplace whenever something changes. A small link icon appears next to each record in your DealCloud as visual confirmation that the connection is active.
See how investment firms are getting their entire existing DealCloud connected to Dakota Marketplace’s data without a single duplicate or manual match. Book a demo!
What Makes DealCloud Different From Other Integrations
Every firm's CRM is different, but DealCloud users tend to have particularly complex existing datasets. Private equity and investment management firms using DealCloud often have years of deal activity, relationship notes, and custom field configurations that need to be preserved exactly as they are.
Our Linking & Syncing service is designed to work with that complexity rather than around it. We add our data alongside yours in a dedicated Dakota tab inside each DealCloud record, so your existing fields, your deal history, and your custom configurations stay completely untouched. Our data enriches what you already have. It does not compete with it.
How Long Does It Take?
The Linking & Syncing process typically takes between two weeks and 30 days to complete, depending on the size of your existing dataset and the complexity of the matching process. That timeline covers the work our team does on the back end. It does not affect your access to the integration.
You can use your DealCloud integration while Linking & Syncing is in progress. There is no need to wait for the process to finish before your team starts working with the product.
What Comes After Linking & Syncing
Once the initial connection is built, our integration takes over the ongoing data work. Every linked record stays current in real time. When we update a field in Dakota Marketplace, that update flows directly into your DealCloud automatically. Your team is always working from accurate, current information without anyone managing it manually.
For new accounts and contacts your team wants to add after Linking & Syncing is complete, the in-app linking and creating tools handle everything on a one-off or batch basis. For a step-by-step walkthrough of how to link and create records manually, see How to Link Existing DealCloud Records to Dakota Without Creating Duplicate Accounts.
Is Linking & Syncing Right for Every Firm?
Linking & Syncing is the right starting point for any DealCloud user with a significant existing dataset. If your firm is brand new to DealCloud and does not yet have a large volume of existing records, you may be able to get started with manual linking and creating right away. But for most firms that have been using DealCloud for more than a year, Linking & Syncing is the approach we strongly recommend before doing any manual work.
Getting the initial connection right means clean records, no duplicates, and a DealCloud your team actually trusts. For a broader look at how Linking & Syncing works across all of our integrations, see What Is Linking & Syncing? Dakota's White-Glove CRM Setup Service Explained.
Let Us Do the Hard Part
Connecting a new data integration to a CRM you have spent years building should not feel like a risk. With Linking & Syncing, it does not have to. We handle the matching, the connections, and the back-end setup so your team can focus on what they do best: building relationships and raising capital.
You can explore our full CRM integration suite or book a demo to learn more about how Linking & Syncing works for your specific DealCloud setup.
Book a demo of our Intapp DealCloud integration today!
