Expert finding is challenging for many reasons including:
* The volume of commnication or publicaiotn is no indication of expertise.
* The first expert you find may not be the best one.
* Certain topics engendr more opinion than facts and so finding the true expert can be difficult
* There generally is a lack of access to infomation about past performance of experts
* New employees don't know about informal social networks hence cannot exploit these to find experts.
* Privacy concerns may limit the degree to which measurements of experts performance is shareable.
* Expertise is not distributed evenly and strengths of associations among experts vary siginifieantly.
*There are no standards specifying the criteria or qualifications necessary for particular levels of expertise.
*True expertise is rare and expensive.Often access is controlled,either informally or formally,either by the expert themselves or their management.
*Expertise continously changes and require awareness of this dynamic.
*Solution to complex problems often require either communiites of experts or divers ranges of expertise that need to be brought together to solve the complex problems.
*The communication with experts may be impeded by geopraphic, time difference, and cultural barriers.
In summary, expert finding is a complex and difficult task.