The hidden tacit knowledge

In the modern workplace, knowledge is often treated as something that lives in files, dashboards, or documentation tools. But the truth is, most of an organization’s valuable knowledge doesn’t live there at all.

It lives in people.

Tacit knowledge — the kind of know-how that comes from experience, intuition, and judgment — is estimated to make up as much as 90% of the knowledge inside a company.

It's the difference between following a manual and knowing what to do when the manual fails. It’s how senior team members make decisions, how leaders spot red flags, how experts innovate under pressure.

The challenge? Tacit knowledge is hard to articulate — and even harder to capture. It’s often unspoken, undocumented, and deeply personal. As a result, it stays hidden. And when employees leave or change roles, it disappears completely.

The cost of not accessing tacit knowledge is massive.

• Projects get repeated or derailed

• Teams lose context

• Learning takes longer

• Strategic decisions are made without full insight

At Humainic, we believe tacit knowledge shouldn’t be left to chance or exit interviews. That’s why our AI is designed to guide people into reflective, insight-generating conversations that help them surface what they know and turn it into something shareable, usable, and valuable.

The analyses of conversations with Aika show as high as 80% of the content being tacit knowledge. When organizations can access the real thinking inside their people, they stop guessing and start learning.