A recent survey of 122 European business executives has found that, of all strategic technologies, knowledge management solutions rank first among executives in terms of importance in large companies. The survey, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, indicated that this may be because the majority of executives feel unable to use large amounts of the corporate information that is available to them.

Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said that their IT departments’ failure to prioritize bulk information was the main barrier to effective decision-making. Ignorance of what knowledge exists, or of where to find it, is another major barrier, according to 41 percent of respondents.

In some cases, a simple solution—such as keeping a regularly updated record of who knows what—can be more effective than throwing IT at the problem, according to the report.