TrendAlert: Connecting People to People – Expert Databases

Identifying experts in an organization is a first step toward collaboration. This Briefing looks at trends and best practices among companies that are formalizing their internal expert networks. Based on extensive interviews with seven companies in R&D-intensive industries, it identifies both success factors and pitfalls for organizations attempting to capture and apply information about experts. The key finding is that the methodologies and technologies used to build expert databases must be matched to the existing information-sharing culture of the organization. A detailed comparison of the seven companies' approaches and some tips for getting started make this Briefing a practical guide. For content deployment professionals, this Briefing provides pragmatic advice on building the right type of expert database, on the right scale, while leveraging existing resources. For commercial content vendors, the Briefing includes tips for helping customers find ways of embedding external content in expert databases.