A large portion (86%) of Dutch employees work with institutional knowledge that is not documented. Think of routines, proven practices, and informal know-how that arise from daily work. When this information is not properly recorded, it remains largely invisible – both to new team members and to AI systems intended to support daily work. Departments such as operations (36%), customer service (29%), engineering (28%), and finance (27%) are therefore at an increased risk of knowledge loss and inefficiency.
"Institutional knowledge determines the daily work for many employees, but without documentation and structure, teams struggle to align and professionalize processes," says Dan Lawyer, Chief Product Officer at Lucid Software. "There are great opportunities for organizations to lay the foundation for a successful implementation of AI. By streamlining processes and making workflows repeatable, AI can help teams collaborate more effectively and accelerate results across the organization."
Even when knowledge is documented, many employees signal shortcomings: only half indicate that the current workflows are 'fairly well' documented. Setting up processes proves difficult, as the documentation is often incomplete (31%), outdated (27%), and hard to find (26%).
From knowledge loss to added value with AI
The success of AI depends on the right operational foundation, based on structure, transparency, and consistent practices. According to Dutch respondents, the biggest obstacles to scaling up the documentation of knowledge are: lack of time (42%), unclear ownership (28%), and lack of tools (23%).
When respondents were asked which tools or practices would help them adapt to AI-driven changes, they indicated that they primarily think of collaboration in documents (32%), process documentation (24%), and role mapping (23%). According to 69% of respondents, AI-driven tools can help save time, with 31% indicating that this could yield them more than 3 hours per week. Additionally, they believe these tools improve productivity (38%), streamline documentation (27%), and clarify team responsibilities (27%).
Investing in documentation, clear processes, and structured workflows enables organizations to close knowledge gaps and fully leverage the potential of AI. Read the full AI Readiness Report 2025 here: https://lucid.co/blog/ai-readiness-survey-2025.
About the research
The research was conducted on behalf of Lucid Software through an online survey of 2,231 employees from various sectors, including 261 respondents from the Netherlands. Their roles ranged from junior level to manager/department head and executive/C-suite. The field research took place between August 15 and 26, 2025.
