Proceedings of the Federated Conference on ISBN 978-83-60810-22-4 Computer Science and Information Systems pp. 281–285 Virtualization as an approach in the development of IT system implementation process Iwona Chomiak-Orsa, Wiesława Gryncewicz, Maja Leszczyńska University of Economics ul. Komandorska 118/120, 53-345 Wroclaw, Poland Email: {iwona.chomiak, wieslawa.gryncewicz, maja.leszczynska}@ue.wroc.pl Abstract—Virtual administration of IT system implementa- the recent trend to virtualize the co-operation between the tion processes is now possible in small and micro-companies, provider and the client and employ remote implementation characterized by relative simplicity and marked recurrence of procedures and processes based on large potential of modern business processes. Popularity of such approach to implementa- tion is largely due to the wide availability of IT solutions offer- IT solutions – a trend observed and not yet sufficiently ad- ing remote administration of authorized IT resources. Virtual dressed in professional literature. form of implementation offers significant reduction of both cost and time, compared with traditional approach. Consequently, II.DETERMINANTS OF VIRTUALIZATION OF THE IT SYSTEM it seems reasonable to expect further development of this trend, IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS addressing larger economic entities and servicing more com- plex IT systems. At present, straight majority of companies, especially large and medium-sized, employ consolidated application I. INTRODUCTION suites to service the main areas of their business activities, mainly in the sphere of accounting, personnel and wages, OMPANIES competing on modern markets face in- and sales [4]. Due to good saturation of IT solutions in this creased dynamics of changes, fierce competition and C area, software providers seek to extend their offer to cover the need of making fast decisions. To meet those challenges, the sector of small and micro-companies. This interest takes it is necessary to make good use of the available Information the form of adapting the IT solutions to the specificity and Technology (IT) solutions. IT instruments open up new po- needs of this particular segment as well as development of tential for company operation and are a driving force of trade-specific IT instruments, evident even on the part of the transformation. By implementing modern technological so- largest software providers. Moreover, IT providers offer a lutions, companies re-organize their activities not only in the range of supplementary services (business consultancy, sup- B&C context, but also in relation to other companies, port in the acquisition of EU structural funds), and their ap- through value-creation chain [1]. The potential offered in plications, when properly implemented, warrant increased this respect by the Internet and networking is widely and effectiveness of business processes. This trend is manifested readily employed for optimization of business processes, in the increased interest of IT providers in commercializa- namely the minimization of process cost and maximization tion of their knowledge and implementation expertise, by of- of profit. Processes conducted via information and commu- fering services that complement IT systems’ functionality, nications technologies (most notably, the Internet), due to such as best practices in organization of specialized business the nature of the medium, are subject to potential virtualiza- processes, process maps for trade-specific activities and sup- tion. Through virtualization, both the entrepreneurs and their plying predefined sets of procedures for their IT systems. customers can profit from delocalization of business pro- This range of services is particularly attractive for small cesses, i.e. freeing them up from the geographic constraints companies seeking to improve their market standing by im- and focusing on customer needs and key competences of plementing IT solutions combined with extensive knowledge process supervisors [2]. of best practices in their line of trade [4]. The potential of virtualization can be readily deduced However, solutions tailored to the needs and requirements from the etymology of the term. Virtualization is a word de- of small and micro-companies, from the viewpoint of IT rived from Latin virtus, virtuti standing for proficiency, effi- providers, offer significantly lower per-unit profit. Financial ciency, courage, fortitude and virtualis – effective [3]. The resources available to small and micro-companies for IT sys- aim of this paper is to offer an insight into potential of virtu- tem implementation (need analysis, product modification alization of business processes through the evaluation of the and configuration, training, assistance, etc.) are decidedly IT system implementation process. Determinants, possibili- sub-par compared to those of larger companies. Moreover, ties and tools for virtualization of this process are analyzed. their business processes are of significantly lower complexi- Definition of system implementation process virtualization ty, coupled with trade-specific large-scale recurrence of pro- is presented, together with benefits implied by the use of this cedures. IT systems addressed to this sector are definitely method. Deliberations presented in this paper refer to the cheaper. Consequently, for optimization of business activi- practice of IT system implementation, with main focus on 978-83-60810-22-4/$25.00 c 2011 IEEE 281 282 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FEDCSIS. SZCZECIN, 2011 ties in this sector to be profitable, the IT providers need to It must be noted that virtualization, among other things, is minimize the cost and maximize the number of recipients. aimed at building the implementation process on the particu- Cost minimization requires, on the one hand, standardization lar needs of the client. In addition, the client is an active par- and simplification of system functionality and, on the other ticipant of the process, taking part in realization of individu- hand, simplification and time-effectiveness of implementa- al implementation tasks. Consequently, virtualization of IT tion procedures. system implementation processes obliges the provider to of- The search for cost-minimization of implementation pro- fer a suitable level of security and work comfort to the cedures has led to the present market trend, observed in this client. This should be reflected in proper organization of im- sector. In general, the trend is manifested in virtualization of plementation tasks and – most of all – a reliable hot-line ser- implementation procedures or their constituents. This ap- vice offering fast and effective solutions for most of the proach allows for delocalization of implementation, regard- client’s problems and inquiries. In virtual context, this is a less of geographic location of both parties – in practice, the substitute for direct contact between clients and consultants. whole implementation process can be accomplished remote- It must also be remembered that virtualization of imple- ly, with significant reduction of implementation time. In ad- mentation processes for standard IT products dedicated to dition, the IT system provider can service a large group of small and micro-companies carries a large potential for de- clients in a relatively short time, and at marginal cost. velopment, since the procedures and methodologies devel- Virtualization of IT system implementation process can oped in the course of system implementation may help be defined as remote realization of individual implementa- streamline future implementation processes targeted to tion procedures using modern telecommunications and IT medium and large companies. solutions as well as the Internet potential (detailed analysis below). Thus, the need of personal contact between IT III. POTENTIAL FOR VIRTUALIZATION OF IT SYSTEM provider and the customer is effectively eliminated. The con- IMPLEMENTATIONS sultant, using a set of IT instruments and the Internet con- As already mentioned above, the owners of small and mi- nection, communicates in real time with the customer. Both cro-companies typically purchase trade-specific or highly parties not only communicate with each other, but are also standardized IT solutions. Such decisions result from the linked with the same physical machine, sharing the desktop lack of funds to carry out pre-implementation analyses, of- view on their respective monitors and working hand in hand. fering detailed evaluation of organizational needs, informa- It must be noted that this particular form of cooperation is tion needs of individual user groups and elaborate design of made possible by the user-friendly, intuitive applications tai- business processes. In such cases, the implementation be- lored to the requirements of virtual IT system implementa- comes a key stage in the system life-cycle. In the sector of tion. Those instruments typically do not require specialized small and micro-companies, the awareness of the need to IT knowledge; the only requirement is the efficiency of com- implement IT solutions is a first step in the implementation munication via the Internet. process. Identification of user needs is carried out from It should be noted that virtualization of IT system imple- “within’ the organization itself – typically through involving mentation processes is available and applicable mainly to company employees and owners in identification and evalu- small companies operating within a standard set of business ation of operational