"Våra kunder är mer lika än vad man kan tro" : En fallstudie om konsulters upplevda värde med intern informationsdelning

Sammanfattning: Information and knowledge are today considered one of the largest assets for organisations, since holding knowledge is like holding power. The role as a consultant is often the role of an expert, coming to the client with knowledge. The digitalisation of society and organisations has led to a demand in the expert knowledge of IT-consultants. Therefore, the aim of the study is to establish a deeper understanding of consultants' perceived value of information sharing, as well as contribute with knowledge and insights on how consulting companies can work with information sharing to make work more efficient. To fulfil this purpose a case study was conducted using qualitative semi-structured interviews as a method. The result shows that information sharing between consultants are perceived to create a huge value for the organisation since work can be done more effectively. However, there are obstacles that hinder information sharing. The largest obstacle is the consultants’ perceived lack of time and priority of the internal work that is needed for information sharing. A lack of experience for the consultant can increase the fear of sharing irrelevant or redundant information, which can lead to inexperienced consultants not sharing. The result also shows that the degree of formality required on the platform used for information sharing, affects the likelihood of consultants sharing and therefore needs to be balanced. The study also shows that traits such as trust, dedication and open communication can impact consultants' willingness to share information positively. The conclusions drawn from the result is that time spent on information sharing is time spent investing into the organisation's future success since consultants directly can benefit from each other's experience and knowledge. To encourage information sharing the obstacle described above needs to be addressed to ensure that consultants perceive a value in sharing their experience and knowledge.