Over the next five years, millions of experienced employees will retire. Their knowledge will leave with them.

Over the next five years, millions of experienced employees will retire. Their knowledge will leave with them.

Demographic change meets skills shortages. And while we talk about a lack of workers, we quietly lose the most valuable thing: decades of experience.

Knowledge is not the same as data.

You can store data. Knowledge arises from context, experience and judgement. You cannot simply put that in a database.

Why this topic deserves another chance now:

Knowledge management was already a major topic more than 20 years ago. Many tools were promoted. What remained? Data graveyards rather than value.

Now, with AI, there is for the first time an opportunity to generate knowledge again from structured data and context. In collaboration with people.

The good news: it is so much easier today.

You no longer have to ask someone to write things down. With AI, you can ask targeted questions — "How do you approach it when...?" — and turn the answers directly into structured formats. Reusable. Scalable.

My experience: many people see it as a sign of appreciation when someone takes an interest in their experience.

#AI #SkillsShortage #KnowledgeManagement