Knowledge identification within the information infrastructure of a large multidisciplinary consultant

Knowledge Management (KM) practitioners and technology suppliers are eager to promote the value of advanced tools and techniques for identifying and extracting knowledge from digital data. Difficulties exist in applying these KM methods to organisations and this is particularly true where there exists complexity in the information technology (IT) infrastructure, geographic dispersion as well as technical diversification. The IT infrastructure of a large multidisciplinary consultant coupled with particular characteristics in the information-seeking behaviour of engineers and managers need to be fully understood, and potentially changed, before attempting to implement knowledge management improvements.