At Protogen Corp, knowledge wasn’t missing. It was hidden. Day-to-day work depended on knowing who to ask, not where to look. The people who held critical context weren’t always listed on the project or documented in any official system. As a result, progress often hinged on informal conversations and internal reputation. When key individuals were unavailable, work slowed down or went in circles.

That’s why the team brought in Phlow. By making expertise visible and searchable, Phlow helped transform tribal knowledge into a shared company asset, available to everyone who needed it.

Context

At Protogen, getting things done often depended on knowing who to ask. New projects, risk assessments, or even small process changes hinged not on what was documented, but on who had the hidden context.

Over time, an informal network emerged:

• “Ask Lina, she knows the background.”
• “Tom’s been here forever, he’ll point you to the right doc.”
• “Check with Maria, she’s not on the project, but she handled something similar last year.”

This tribal knowledge was powerful, but fragile. If Lina’s on leave, the whole thing slows down.

The Challenge

• Expertise lived in people, not in systems
• Documentation was shallow or outdated
• Team members spent time finding the finder rather than finding answers
• Those outside the inner circle, including new hires or remote staff, were left guessing

The whisper network became a bottleneck. When people left, got promoted, or changed roles, their knowledge left with them, and nobody even realised what was lost until it was too late.

What Phlow Did

Phlow surfaced knowledge and expertise without relying on word-of-mouth.

When team members searched for a topic, like “supply chain cost mitigation”, Phlow didn’t just return documents. It also:

• Surfaced discussions where the topic was debated
• Highlighted key contributors across multiple projects
• Suggested experts based on authored work, not hearsay

Profiles were built automatically, showing:

• Areas of contribution
• Past decisions and rationales
• Related documents and discussions
• Instead of relying on “knowing who knows,” employees could see who contributed, what they contributed, and why it mattered, in real time.

“We stopped guessing who to ask. We just followed the work.”

Outcome

• Informal expert networks became visible and accessible to everyone
• Collaboration accelerated across functions, seniority, and geography
• Fewer bottlenecks, fewer blockers, and far less time spent asking around

“We didn’t just democratise information, we democratised trust.”

Why This Matters

In fast-growing or distributed companies, tribal knowledge doesn’t scale. Phlow replaces the invisible expert network with transparent, trackable expertise, so decisions rely on facts and context, not hallway referrals.

When teams know what the company knows, and who knows it, they stop waiting, and start delivering.