This IDC study refines the concept of knowledge leakage and the factors that compound and mitigate the impact of knowledge leakage on an IT organization. It also suggests strategies for IT management to reduce the impact of knowledge leakage on organizational performance.

There is a silent killer in every IT organization — knowledge leakage. IT organizations are in a constant state of flux. The IT environment, the staff, and the organizational goals change continuously. At the same time, organizational performance must be as high as possible, but the impact of changing staff and skill leakage can cause 50% of an IT organization's skills to be lost in six years.

"Knowledge leak is the degradation of skills over time, and it occurs in every organization, every time. It doesn't discriminate based on operating system or platform, but it can kill organizational performance in as little as a couple of years." — Cushing Anderson, vice president, IT Education and Certification research