Information Technology: Napster Failure and Business Service Delivery

This report explores two key aspects of information technology: the failure of Napster and the role of IT in business service delivery. The first part analyzes the Napster case, detailing its rise as a peer-to-peer music sharing service, its struggle with copyright issues, and its eventual failure due to techn...Read More

Running head: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author note

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Task A
Recent successful technology failure
One of the recent technology failures is that of Napster. Napster shifted the tradition
of compact disc to ethereal digital tunes. Napster introduced the peer-to-peer environment
thus providing simple mechanisms for establishing connection between the peers and their
MP3 file resources. The users of Napster could make use of the lookup service to find out
those locations to retrieve the MP3 files that they wanted (David, 2016). Napster users could
provide their personal files as well. Napster acted as a centralized register of various locations
of the files but these files still remained with the users. Napster gained popularity at a faster
rate as it made more than hundred million users. It served as a threat to the traditional
business models that were supported by record firms. The fight which was initiated by the
firm was carried on by the Recording Industry Association of America and this was based on
content’s ownership as well as enforcement of the various copyright laws (Aguiar, Duch-
Brown & Waldfogel, 2015). Initially, Napster had focused on providing its users with easy
process of MP3 file sharing for those users who wanted to share files with others. Napster
served as a medium to for the users to share files amidst themselves. The concern in this case
was “freedom on the net” as well as “rights to content. In the year 2001 Napster had to
consider the protection of copyright as per the order of the court. The main aim of the
mechanism involved in protecting was introduction of filtering of lookup service (Kasiyanto,
2015). Those users who were interested in protecting their “freedom on the net”
circumvented the filters. This gave rise to real information war on the platform that also
included arms race that in turn concerned the control of valuable as well as distributed
content. CatNap, a local proxy server made use of cryptography of all the data that was sent
to the server of Napster. The filters on the servers of Napster could not recognize the name of
the files. The negative aspect was that the users could only locate files of other users of

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CatNap on the network of Napster. The reason of failure of Napster can be attributed to the
above implemented protection of copyright. When the debate on this was going on other P2P
providers started appearing and the best of all of them was Gnutella. The failure of Napster
was technology management failure as they could not mange the technology which otherwise
could have captured the market. Napster was prevented from trading copyrighted music
across its network. It was forced to shut down the entire network to comply with the
injunction. After that the case got partially settled and the company agreed to pay the music
creators and the copyright owners a dollar 26 million settlement for having accessed music
and using the same without authorized access (Ku, 2017). In order to pay this fees Napster
had to go for the subscription system which resulted in decrease in traffic. The company
could have given offers on its subscription packages and the old users could get discounts for
being loyal to the company. The customers were used to free services thus all of sudden
paying for the same services made them back out from the company. The business had to
retain its old customers and thus it could have chosen all various plans for its subscriptions
policies (Kelly, 2017). The shutdown of the company could have been prevented if the
customers were provided with subscriptions at a lower cost and discounted price but even
here there was the problem because the company had to pay the music creators as well as the
copyright owners.
Task B
Role of IT in Business Service Delivery
Information technology has become vital for communication processes. In order to
have sectorial growth and effective management the service industries like banking,
entertainment, engineering and insurance should be aligned towards customer service. A firm
requires knowing about its potential markets, expectation, dynamic desires and singular
needs. Thus, it requires gaining knowledge about its customers developing successful

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relationship with consumers hinge. Technological development provides advantage to the
consumers and aims to lead the organization towards customer loyalty. This enables the
organizations to establish effective connections with its consumers by making use of the
modern technologies. Usage of information technology helps remove uncertainty leading to
creation of trust of the customers. There is huge challenge involved in delivering the desired
services to customers. The perception of the customer about the market offering is made by
personal interaction or other information processes. It wholly depends on the potential of the
service providers to attract and convince their target markets. As per the research done by
Larivière et al., (2017), there is a direct link in between gathering informations about the
customers and meeting the needs of the customers in a better way. Satisfying the customers is
the main aim of organizations as this leads to the growth of business. Customer satisfaction in
turn is based on factors such as customer’s purpose and the customer oriented services that
are being provided by the organization. As per the research done by Matinmikko et al.,
(2017), information technology enhances customer service delivery by tools such as
information provision for the use of management, provision of convenience and offerings of
certain extra services. There are many such competing roles of information technology in the
service delivery system which is effective in coping up with entry limitation, generation of
revenue and enhancing the production. As per the research done by Arshad & Su, (2015), the
use of information technology in delivery is serving as a critical factor to satisfy the
customers. The data of the customers has the value as well as the potential to augment the
relationship existing in between organization and customer. The storage of these customer
related data for retrieving it in the future is termed as data warehousing while manipulating
these data is termed as data mining. New technologies as such ensure that the data of the
customers are always available allowing the organizations to effectively communicate with
their target customers. The new information technology in delivery system embrace the

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internet technology, telecommunication in call centers as well as computer-telephony.
Information technology improves the bargaining position of the company in a tactical manner
thus providing unique services and information requiring drastic changes. Information
technology has been effective in promoting meaningful service offerings that was not
available previously as well as potentially of the high value of consumers. When technology
is included in customer relationship it serves as a support to the organization by restoring
confidence in the target customers in cases when changes are being encountered in spheres
such as training and various other changes within the organization. Mismanagement in the
technology can endanger the customer services as well. As per the research done by
Randhawa & Scerri, (2015), the underutilization of the information technology serves as a
serious problem to the information systems and the business managers. There have been
significant changes in the organizational structures after implementation of information
technology to the delivery services. In order to implement information technology, the
organizations need to bring some changes in the fundamental nature of the work as well as
structural framework of the organization as well. As per the research done by Punjaisri &
Wilson, (2017), information technology will serve as the backbone of the corporations in near
future and organizations will grow around their existing telecommunication systems. The
organizations can improve in an effective and efficient manner if the information technology
systems are adopted well into the organizational structure. As per the research done by
Daeyoup & Jaeyoung, (2015), information technology has been successful in creating
competitiveness in the market by creating various opportunities. Four aspects of these
opportunities that have been recognized are improvement in operational and functional
efficiency; IT product initiative, bargaining benefit and inter-organizational relatedness.
Information technology in the delivery services will help in driving innovation thereby
assisting in collection, measurement, communication and analysis of information within the

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premises of the organization. Information technology is important for all those processes that
are communication based. Communication ability of a firm when associating it to the
interested consumers hinged on data that are obtained in time and are trustworthy at the same
time. Functional ability of any organization is considered to be a two-way process therefore it
involves the customers, management and employees. Information technology refers to
automation of the controls, processes as well as information production by making use of tele
communications, software tools for example automated teller machine as well as debit cards.
Increasing use of information technology reveals that it is becoming a part of the
organizations at a faster pace. There are some negative aspects of information technology
being used in business service delivery. The main negative aspect is the cost of
implementation and the associated regulatory compliance. In order to adopt information
technology in business service delivery there is a need to restructure the organization and
delivery requires improving customer services as well. There are risks associated with
information technology that can disrupt the system of any organization. Information
technology involves storing of data and protection of data is major concern. In case of
business delivery services information technology can be of great help but only if the
negative aspects are kept in check (Ekman, Raggio & Thompson, 2016). Information
technology is making its presence felt in all spheres and its achievement in this case can be
understood with the organizations getting aligned to this with every passing day. Information
technology serves as the appropriate platform to for delivery services to the customers. It acts
as the medium for international advertising and other activities such as customer relationship
order management. The best example of advancement in information technology is electronic
mail which can effectively improve the communication in between individuals, organizations
as well as the external parties across geographical boundaries.

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