Knowledge workers perform three key roles that are critical to the organization and to the managers who work within the organization:
Keeping the organization current in knowledge
Serving as internal consultants regarding the areas of their knowledge
Acting as change agents
Knowledge workers rely on traditional office systems but often require highly specialized knowledge work systems with powerful graphics, analytical tools, and communications and document management capabilities. These systems require great computing power, access to external databases, easy-to-use interfaces, and optimization for the specific tasks to be performed.