Knowledge management is a technique of methodical compilation, transfer, safekeeping and management of information inside organizations, along with systems designed to make the most of that knowledge. It refers particularly to tools and techniques developed to safeguard information and knowledge held by individuals who make up the organization. It is at once a software bazaar and a part of consultancy practice related to fields such as competitive intelligence. A key focus of knowledge management deals with knowledge that is not easy to digitally codify, such as individual experiences.

The process of knowledge management also goes by a few other terms in its various developmental stages. One is corporate learning and it has the following basic aims: recognizing, collecting and systematizing existing knowledge and facilitating the creation of new knowledge. Knowledge management has existed from time immemorial, either in the form of discussions, brainstorming sessions or in more formal ways such as apprenticeships and professional training tutoring programs.

However, it is only now that knowledge management is being incorporated as a business practice, and thus it has seen the introduction of certain knowledge and information technology practices, the establishment of intranets within corporate environments and so on. All this is part of a bid to establish knowledge management systems.

Knowledge management system is a widely circulated hypermedia technique for the management of knowledge, encouragement of creativity and the capturing, storing and distributing of that expertise and knowledge. The term hypermedia is used to describe a medium in which audio, video and plain text intersect to create a lateral mode of information storage and dissemination. In other words, the term hypermedia can be used as a plausible extension of the term hypertext.

For instance, the World Wide Web is a good example of hypermedia, whereas the same cannot be said of a movie on DVD. The World Wide Web is used as a space where global information is stored, accessed and transmitted through computers which are wired to the Internet. The web is a space that can be effectively used to implement knowledge management systems effectively, just as the office intranet facility can also be used. In itself, it is not a knowledge management system. However, it can be used to store and access a knowledge management system.