In management consulting, firms don’t sell products; they sell expertise. The ability to assemble the right insights, at the right time, often determines whether a firm wins a multimillion-dollar proposal or loses to a competitor. Yet research shows that up to 90% of a firm’s expertise is tacit knowledge, embedded in consultants’ heads, shaped by years of lived experience, and rarely written down.
The challenge? Hybrid work, siloed systems, and relentless turnover make tacit knowledge harder to access than ever. Many global firms are realizing that their biggest competitive advantage is also their most underutilized asset.
As one senior management consultant put it:
“Tacit knowledge is not easily accessed or codified, but is more read between the lines rather than on the lines.” — CGI study
Unlocking this hidden expertise is no longer a “nice to have.” It is the key to faster proposals, smoother delivery, and sustainable differentiation in a crowded market.
Explicit knowledge, that stuff you find in wikis, playbooks, and SharePoint libraries, has its place. But in consulting, the real value lies in tacit knowledge: the nuanced judgment, client context, and lived experience that consultants accumulate over years of projects.
As another senior consultant explained:
“We are selling knowledge and offerings, but not products. Thus, what we do and how we do it becomes vital for our projects.” — CGI study
Tacit knowledge is what allows a consultant to anticipate a client’s concerns, recall how a regulator interpreted a rule, or adapt a methodology to a new industry. Without ways to surface this expertise, firms risk reinventing the wheel on every new engagement.
Today’s consulting environment makes tacit knowledge sharing harder than ever:
As one Vice President Consulting Expert observed:
“Random meetings are very hard to replace in the digitized world. Such random meetings also help with knowledge sharing.” — CGI study
When firms fail to activate tacit knowledge, the result is inefficient proposals, duplicated effort, and rework. Consultants waste hours chasing answers through fragmented Teams chats and email threads. Valuable expertise leaves the firm when people do.
Global firms have long invested in ways to transfer knowledge informally:
These remain vital. As one senior consultant stressed:
“There is greater value in gaining knowledge through mentorship than [in] doing a learning course. It has to do with the dialogues, which allow for precision in the exact knowledge you want.” — CGI study
But in distributed, digital-first firms, these mechanisms no longer scale on their own.
Over the past decade, firms have layered digital systems on top of these practices: SharePoint sites, intranets, collaboration tools, and AI copilots. But many leaders admit these tools haven’t solved the problem.
Why? Digital repositories capture explicit knowledge but not tacit expertise. Content becomes fragmented. Context is lost. And without human validation, consultants hesitate to trust what they find.
As one senior consultant noted:
“Of course, now there are opportunities, but the structure has been lost, and it has become worse… knowledge just disappears.” — CGI study
To compete, firms need more than yet another static knowledge base. They need systems that dynamically surface hidden expertise, bridging AI with human insight.
Forward-looking consultancies are adopting Expertise Activation Platforms like Starmind, designed specifically to tap into tacit knowledge at scale.
Here’s how Starmind addresses the challenge:
Unlike traditional KM tools, Starmind is not a static repository. It continuously learns from employees, dynamically mapping expertise across global teams. That means when a consultant asks a question, whether about a regulatory nuance in Singapore or a client precedent in banking, the platform instantly identifies who has the answer.
The impact is measurable: faster proposals, reduced rework, higher utilization, and improved win rates.
Senior leaders often raise valid questions when evaluating new AI tools to manage the internal knowledge systems in a consultancy firm. Here’s how Starmind is addressing them:
If you’re a Partner, Practice Leader, or Knowledge Manager looking to unlock tacit knowledge in your firm, consider these steps:
The payoff is clear: fewer blind spots, faster proposals, and stronger differentiation in a crowded consulting market.
Global consulting firms face relentless pressure to deliver smarter, faster, and more competitively. The firms that thrive will be those that activate their hidden expertise, making tacit knowledge accessible in real time, across borders and business lines.
Platforms like Starmind are proving that this is not only possible, but transformative. By bridging AI and human insight, they help firms reduce inefficiency, preserve knowledge, and increase win rates.
In an industry where expertise is the product, unlocking tacit knowledge may be the single most important lever for growth. Don’t wait for your expertise to walk out the door; access it forever with Starmind.
→ Explore how Starmind helps global consulting firms surface their hidden expertise and turn knowledge into a competitive advantage.