Migrating Processes from Physical to Virtual Environments: Process Virtualization Theory

Abstract

Abstract Increasingly, processes that have relied on physical interaction between people, and between people and objects are being migrated to virtual environments in which physical interaction is not available. For example, medical processes that have traditionally relied on physical interaction between physician and patient are conducted virtually through telemedicine, and shopping processes that have tradi- tionally relied on physical interaction between shoppers and products are con- ducted virtually via electronic commerce. I refer to this migration as process virtualization. Although the pace of process virtualization is accelerating, some processes have proven more suitable for virtualization than others. Process virtualization theory is a recently proposed theory designed to explain this variance. This chapter describes the theory by defining terms, discussing the constructs and relationships of the theory that explain and predict how suitable a process is to being conducted virtually, and discussing how the theory fits into the Information Systems discipline.