Purpose – Aims to review the key concepts of competency management (CM) and to propose method for developing competency method. Design/methodology/approach – Examines the CM features of 22 CM systems and 18 learning management systems. Findings – Finds that the areas of open standard (XML, web services, RDF), semantic technologies (ontologies and the semantic web) and portals with self-service technologies are going to play a significant part in the evolution of CM systems. Originality/value – Emphasizes the beneficial attributes of CM for private and public organizations.