Assessing a service offering in a networked computing environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9935849-B2
Application number	US-201715486758-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 13, 2017
Priority date	Jan 7, 2014
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

An approach for assessing a service offering selected by a user in a networked computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment) is provided. In one aspect, a network environment containing the service offering is monitored for a software configuration activity performed by the user. This software configuration activity is analyzed to identify the software application that is being configured. A set of provider-managed service offerings can be searched for any provider-managed service offering that contains an offered application corresponding to that of the software application. This managed service offering can be included in an alternative suggestion for the service offering.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for assessing a service offering selected by a user in a networked computing environment, the method comprising the computer-implemented processes of:
monitoring, by at least one computer device, a network environment containing the service offering for a software configuration activity performed by the user;
analyzing, by the at least one computer device, the software configuration activity to identify a software application that is being configured;
searching, by the at least one computer device, a set of provider-managed service offerings for a provider-managed service offering that has an offered application corresponding to that of the software application;
gathering a user history corresponding to the user;
deciding whether to forward an alternative suggestion for the service offering to the user based on the user history, wherein the alternative suggestion includes the provider-managed service offering; and
forwarding to the user, by the at least one computer device, the alternative suggestion for the service offering that includes the provider-managed service offering.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration activity includes at least one of: downloading at least a portion of the software application on the network environment, copying at least a portion of the software application on the network environment, executing an installation of the software application on the network environment, or configuring at least a portion of the software application on the network environment.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the analyzing further comprises at least one of: recognizing a location from which the downloading of the software application is occurring, recognizing an installation executable name of the software application, recognizing a characteristic of the software application from the executing of the installation, or recognizing a modification of the configuration file resulting from the software application.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the offered application has common functionality with the software application, and wherein the offered application is not the software application.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
estimating a level of disruption which the provider-managed service offering would cause to the network environment based on the length of time; and
deciding whether to forward the alternative suggestion to the user based additionally on the estimating,
wherein, the user history includes at least one of: whether the user has previously been notified of an alternative suggestion on the network environment, whether the user has previously been notified of a previous alternative suggestion that is similar to the alternative suggestion in conjunction with a different network environment, a manner in which the user responded to past alternative suggestions, and a length of time the network environment has been active.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the assembling further comprises:
ranking the alternative suggestion with respect to at least one other alternative suggestion, the ranking being based on at least one of the following: most profitable to the user, most likely to be chosen by the user base on the user history, or possible revenue to a provider of the provider-managed service; and
notifying the user of the alternative suggestion via a communication method.

7. A system for assessing a service offering selected by a user in a networked computing environment, comprising:
a memory medium comprising instructions;
a bus coupled to the memory medium; and
a processor coupled to the bus that when executing the instructions causes the system to:
monitor a network environment containing the service offering for a software configuration activity performed by the user;
analyze the software configuration activity to identify a software application that is being configured;
search a set of provider-managed service offerings for a provider-managed service offering that has an offered application corresponding to that of the software application;
assemble an alternative suggestion for the service offering that includes the provider-managed service offering;
gather a user history corresponding to the user; and
decide whether to forward the alternative suggestion to the user based on the user history.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the configuration activity includes at least one of: downloading at least a portion of the software application on the network environment, copying at least a portion of the software application on the network environment, executing an installation of the software application on the network environment, or configuring at least a portion of the software application on the network environment.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the analyzing further comprises at least one of: recognizing a location from which the downloading of the software application is occurring, recognizing an installation executable name of the software application, recognizing a characteristic of the software application from the executing of the installation, or recognizing a modification of the configuration file resulting from the software application.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the offered application has common functionality with the software application, and wherein the offered application is not the software application.

11. The system of claim 7 , the instructions further causing the system to:
estimate a level of disruption which the provider-managed service offering would cause to the network environment based on the length of time; and
decide whether to forward the alternative suggestion to the user based additionally on the estimating,
wherein, the user history includes at least one of: whether the user has previously been notified of an alternative suggestion on the network environment, whether the user has previously been notified of a previous alternative suggestion that is similar to the alternative suggestion in conjunction with a different network environment, a manner in which the user responded to past alternative suggestions, and a length of time the network environment has been active.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the assembling further comprises:
ranking the alternative suggestion with respect to at least one other alternative suggestion, the ranking being based on at least one of the following: most profitable to the user, most likely to be chosen by the user base on the user history, or possible revenue to a provider of the provider-managed service; and
notifying the user of the alternative suggestion via a communication method.

13. A computer program product for assessing a service offering selected by a user in a cloud computing environment, the computer program product comprising a computer readable device, and program instructions stored on the computer readable device, that cause at least one computer device to:
monitor a network environment containing the service offering for a software configuration activity performed by the user;
analyze the software configuration activity to identify a software application that is being configured;
search a set of provider-managed service offerings for a provider-managed service offering that has an offered application corresponding to that of the software application;
assemble an alternative suggestion for the service offering that includes the provider-managed service offering;
gather a user history corresponding to the user; and
decide whether to forward the alternative suggestion to the user based on the user history.

14. The computer

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Abuelsaad Kelly
• Deluca Lisa Seacat
• Jang Soobaek
• Krook Daniel C

Classifications

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L41/5058

  Service discovery by the service manager · CPC title

• H04L41/5041 Primary

  characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service · CPC title

• H04L41/0883 Primary

  Semiautomatic configuration, e.g. proposals from system · CPC title

• H04L41/5061

  characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management · CPC title