Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, managing and sharing an organisation s information assets, including databases, policies and procedures as well as unarticulated expertise and experience resident in individual workers 5 .
Consulting firms make money by consulting on knowledge management.
However, they also save their clients money and time by helping them to share knowledge effectively, so that the work they do in different divisions, branches or countries, doesn t have to be redone by others. The knowledge management trend seems to be catching up with its terminology, as we no longer manage only information, but also knowledge. In the corporate world, employees are sharing their thoughts in discussion databases using Intranets or groupware packages, with the Knowledge Manager acting as a facilitator. The lessons learned on these projects can help others when they implement similar projects. Databases with employee profiles help consultants to draw on the know-how and skills of others around the organisation.