CONTENT: -

1) Executive summary 1

2) Information Technology Information System Used 2

a) Strategic information system 2

i) Advantages 3

b) Proprietary Software 3

ii) Advantages 4

3) Competitive Advantage for Multivision : 4

4) Questions / Answer 5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This case is a story of a san Franciscan who worked as freelance camera man for a local TV
station illustrates what can happen when imagination, strategic planning, and IT
development mix. Babar Farahi noticed that TV station where he worked, rejected the
viewers requests for tapes of their children, friends which had appeared on station’s
broadcast the day before.
Farahi got a spark, if there is a demand for television snippets, why not sell than? He set up
4 VCR in his parents’ home and recorded the news and Persuaded the TV station
receptionists to refer viewers to him when requesting a copy. The plan worked. He didn’t
stop there; he took his business whole new level while waiting for a flight at san Francisco
airport. He noticed the TV monitor in waiting area had a printed text at the bottom of the
screen he got a plan of expanding the business by using closed-caption database of
company products and names for clients interested in monitoring press coverage of their
coverage , favouring his idea the congress had a recently passed a law that would mandate
the broadcasters and cable operators provide closed captioning for each show with text at
the bottom of the screen.
The less satisfying point was that there was no software was no closed caption database
software, Farahi committed himself and hired programmers to build the hardware and
software for closed caption text capture and searching. Within a year, a new company was
born, multivision. based in Oakland, California, multivision enables companies to
automatically receive TV clips with closed captions that mention their company via the
internet. Clients can receive all TV mentions or ones that are specific to certain fields, like a
show, a network, or a time of day. Multivision has eight offices across USA and records over
75 percent of 210 markets in the country.
Multivision’s sales were projected to reach $17m in 2005, ensuring second largest share in
the market. Its future plans include expansion into international markets, where voice
recognition and image recognition could deliver the same service even in markets without
closed captioning. Digital showroom, a proprietary application of Multivision, allows
customer to monitor the broadcast coverage. Multivision covered united states 160
television markets. Video can be made available viewing online through Digital showroom.
The company now monitors, and indexes broadcast content more than any other
organization. Farahi says that this satisfies his clients’ ever growing need to monitor as much
as broadcast content in as many markets as possible to effectively manage.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/ INFORMATION SYSTEM USED

1) STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM

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Strategic information systems (SIS) are information system that are developed in response
to corporate business initiative. They are intended to give competitive advantage to the
organization. They may deliver a product or service that is at a lower cost, that is
differentiated, that focuses on a particular market segment, or is innovative.
Strategic information system (SIS) is a salient feature in the world of information technology
(IT). In a nutshell, SIM helps businesses and organizations categorize, store, process and
transfer the information they create and receive. It also offers tools for helping companies
apply metrics and analytical tools to their information repositories, allowing them to
recognize opportunities for growth and pinpoint ways to improve operational efficiency.
Multivision developed its own software that was new to the market. It provided the
company with a first mover advantage. It also provided them with a blue ocean market.
Developing the software also helped them to gain the competitive advantage over the
competitors and dominate the market for few years.
Advantages of having a Strategic Information System are: -
1) Creating barriers to competitor’s entry: In this strategy, an organization
uses information systems to provide products or services that are difficult to duplicate or
that are used to serve highly specialized markets. This prevents the entry of competitors as
they find the cost for adopting a similar strategy very high.
 2) Generating databases to improve marketing: An information system also provides
companies an edge over their competition by generating databases to improve their sales
and marketing strategies. Such systems treat existing information as a resource. For
example, an organization may use its databases to monitor the purchase made by its
customers, to identify different segments of the market, etc.
3) ‘Locking in’ customers and suppliers: Another way of gaining competitive advantage is by
locking in customers and suppliers. In this concept, information systems are used to provide
such advantages to a customer or a supplier, that it becomes difficult for them to switch
over to a competitor. For example, an organization may develop its information system and
give many benefits to its customers, like reliable order filling, reduced transaction costs,
increased management support and faster delivery service.
4) Lowering the costs of the products: Strategic information systems may also help
organizations lower their internal costs, allowing them to deliver products and services at a
lower price than their competitors can provide. Thus, such information systems can
contribute to the survival and growth of the organization. For example, airlines use
information systems strategically to lower costs so that they may counter competitor’s
discount fares.
5) Leveraging technology in the value chain: This approach pinpoints specific activities in
the business where competitive strategies can be best applied and where information
systems are likely to have a greater strategic impact. This model advocates that information
technology can best be used to gain competitive advantages by identifying specific, critical
leverage points.

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2) PROPRIETARY DATABASE
A proprietary database is a database that is privately owned, and password protected. It is
usually unavailable to the general public, and a person who wishes to access its contents
must first purchase rights from its owners. Even when a user gains access, it usually come
with strict conditions and restrictions. For example, users may lack the ability to copy,
modify, share or redistribute the material.
The source code for a proprietary database is not made available even when a user
purchases rights to access it. This makes it practically impossible for a user to go against the
stipulations of the database developer. One advantage is that these databases are more
responsible to the users than commercial databases. Data stored in a proprietary database
may be protected under the laws of copyright, by contract law, under patents or as trade
secrets.
The logic behind maintaining a proprietary database is to safeguard the competitive edge of
the information that it bears. It comes with end user license agreements that are not
negotiable. Users agree to the regulations when they open the box that the software comes
in. Alternatively, they can do so interactively or in writing. Examples of proprietary software
are Microsoft Windows, iTunes and Real Player. As another safeguard, some software can
only be installed on one computer. Multivision was using a proprietary database called
Digital showroom with the help of which videos were made available online in different
countries to the customers who have registered with the company.
ADVANTAGES OF HAVING AN PROPRIETARY DATABASE IN ORGANISATION ARE:-
1. Usability
Commercial, proprietary products are typically designed with a smaller scope of features and
abilities. They are focused on a narrower market of end users than those products developed within
open source communities. Commercial vendors’ users may include developers utilizing a firm’s APIs
and libraries, but they are just as often to be composed of application users more concerned with
ease-of-use and functionality than how those aspects are accomplished behind the screen.

2. Product Stability
Proprietary software vendors must, if they are to survive, maintain tight control of their product
roadmap. Their products are designed from the start to nurture a long and prosperous future with
many paid upgrades along the way. Putting aside the arguments that proprietary software can
become stale if not re-architected at regular intervals, in general it exhibits a stability that often
exceeds that of open source software.

3. Ownership
A company building upon proprietary software may pay a bigger fee for acquisition, but typically
that acquisition includes full rights to the ownership of their own software product and the
expectation that the vendor will promptly supply them with updates, bug fixes and revised
documentation as new product versions are released.

4. Tailored Support
Customer support packages from larger closed source vendors are specifically designed and fine-
tuned for their own products over many years. Since the scope of their software is typically narrower
than that from open source projects, training and after-sale support is more complete, accessible
and succinct. There is a huge difference between posing questions in an online open source forum

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compared to receiving support directly from technical reps or consultants from a proprietary
software firm, especially at integration time.

Competitive advantage for Multivision

Multivision was 3 years ahead of any other competitor, the vision of Babak led to new
business, which he took to different level. Babak came to know about the consumers
requirement. This case is a story of a freelance camera man, illustrates what can happen
when imagination, strategic planning, and IT development mix. Babak Farahi noticed that TV
station where he worked, rejected the viewers requests for tapes of their children, friends
which had appeared on station’s broadcast. Farahi got a spark, why not sell television
snippets? Sets up VCR in his parents’ home and recorded the news and Persuaded the TV
station receptionists to refer. He didn’t stop there; he took his business to whole new level
while waiting for a flight at san Francisco airport. He noticed the TV monitor in waiting area
had a printed text at the bottom of the screen. He got a plan of expanding the business by
using closed-caption database of company products and names for clients interested in
monitoring press coverage.
Due to fully aware of the requirements Babak utilized it fully and made it a turnaround
business. It was his vision to make this as a business and provide services to people. Babak
used technology and his experience in the field of media which turned to bean edge over
competitors. Babak used Information system that help seize the opportunity and often
called strategic information system. A company achieves strategic advantage to maximize its
strength, resulting in competitive advantage. They used A proprietary database is a
database that is privately owned, and password protected. It is usually unavailable to the
general public, and a person who wishes to access its contents must first purchase rights
from its owners. Data stored in a proprietary database may be protected under the laws of
copyright, by contract law, under patents or as trade secrets.

QUESTIONS: -
Question 1: What was Farahi’s original idea?
Answer: When he was working at the TV station, he noticed that people always requests
videotapes of former programs, but TV station could not fulfil that needs. Then he came up
with the idea of taping the programs and selling them himself.
He set up 4 VCR in his parents’ home, recorded and monitored television for companies or
public entities that paid him to notify them whenever their name was mentioned.

Question 2: What does this idea have to do with IT? Why is IT so important in
implementing this idea?

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Answer: Farahi understood that there was demand for broadcasted tapes. And to fulfil that
demand Farahi needs the IT techniques to tape the programs and store these digital
programs. And later he would like to set up a database to restore company
products and customers who registered in this service with the company. For this whole business
to work IT is necessary.

IT is important in this case is that Farahi set up a database for his business, which
required some of IT knowledge and techniques. Not to menti on, his database needs
to store databases not only company’s products but his clients as well, which made it a many-to-
many relationship database.

QUESTION 3: Was Farahi’s idea aimed at an existing market, or did he create a new
market? Explain.

Answer: In the case we found that the market was already existed because the company’s
toughest competitor Video Monitoring Services (VMS) which was already existing 16 year
longer than Multivision. So, the demand market was already existing and demand for
service was there.
The demand for the broadcasted tapes were already there but there was only one supplier
which was Video monitoring Service (VMS). The demand was in large which VMS was not
able to fulfil therefor Farahi saw an opportunity and started selling the broadcasted tapes to
the customers later one year he started a company called Multivision.

QUESTION 4: Was Multivision a first mover? If so, did its moves guarantee it market
dominance? Explain.

ANSWER: Yes, multivision had a first mover advantage.

• Because multivision was the first company to use the closed captions. The market
leader Video Monitoring Service (VMS) was existing 16 years longer than Multivision
but did used closed captioning in the tapes they were providing to the customers.
• They were dominating the market for 3 years until VMS imitated the idea and
supported it with huge financial resources and brand recognition.
• Being the first mover Multivision’s sale were projected $17 million in 2005 ensuring
it the second largest share in $100 million market.
• Multivison was planning to expand into international market where they were
planning to use voice recognition and image reorganisation which does not involved
closed captioning.
• In 200, Multivision covered the United States 160 television markets, which serves
98 percent of American viewers as well as 20 countries on 5 continents. Multivision
was also transmitting the ongoing television and radio feeds from England, Ireland,
South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Poland, Canada, and other countries
through Multivision’s proprietary and industry leading content database.
• Multivision was leader in the collection, analysis and delivery of near real-time
broadcast corporate intelligence. Businesses rely on Multivision's services to track
public opinion, communications campaigns and informational research throughout
national broadcast coverage. Multivision provides clients the ability to select key
words, company names or prominent individuals as they are associated with vital

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 and timely topics. Founded in 1996, multivision was the first media monitor to
provide companies with broadcast signal text indexing and digital delivery of
relevant media content.

QUESTION 5: Multivision could not find an appropriate software application to serve its
purpose in indexing and archiving video, so it developed its own. How does developing its
own software served its strategic advantage?

ANSWER: Farahi noticed that the TV monitor in the waiting area had printed text at the
bottom of the screen. That’s when he got the idea to expand his business by introducing
close captioning in the tapes he was providing. Since the caption were stored in digital form,
he could use them to do an electronic search for words, and therefore for business names.
Later it was discovered that the congress has recently passed a law that would soon
mandate that broadcasters and cable operators provide closed captioning for each show
with text at the bottom of the screen. And it was also discovered that there is no closed
captioning software available in the market. Therefore, Farahi hired a couple of
programmers to build the hardware and software for closed-captioning text capture and
searching.
Developing its own software gave company a strategic advantage: -

1. Scalability and flexibility

Developing own software adapt to the growth of your business. They easily accommodate
process changes, increased workloads and additional integrations. The software's flexibility
allows your business to expand as much as it is necessary to meet your business' needs and
objectives.

2. Complete ownership

Having your own software differentiates your business and gives you full control over your
developed solution. It's yours and you decide how and where it is implemented, and you
have full rights over it. You can use it for as many employees as you need, and you don't
need to worry about additional costs or upgrades. It is you who decides if it needs additional
features or customizations.

3. Fast integration

Deciding to develop a software that meets your business needs allows you make all the
necessary integrations from the beginning, according to the existing hardware and systems
that your business currently uses. There are no limitations as to what you can do with your
own software.
4. Security

Another major benefit of developing own software development is security. As you are the
only one using that software and you have complete control over it, a hacker attack is less
likely to take place. As compared with off-the-shelf software where hackers can exploit well-

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known issues and vulnerabilities easier. A tailor-made application that is only used internally
cuts down the risk of attacks.

5. Control

As the owner of the software, you are in complete control of your developed solution. You
can easily implement new changes and additional features according to your business'
growth or your clients' requirements. Also, having complete control over your software
solution it is you who can solve any issues that may arise, and you don't need to depend on
external help.