CLIAMS:We claim
1. A digital degrees of separation determination system, comprising:
a hardware processor; and
a memory storing instructions executable by the processor for:
obtaining user credentials;
determining a user classification based on the user credentials;
identifying a user digital need based on the user classification;
querying a market availability database for a list of market-available software applications related to the user digital need;
obtaining a list of user-accessible software applications related to the user digital need;
comparing characteristics of the market-available software applications to the user-accessible software applications; and
calculating a digital degrees of separation based on the comparison.

2. The system of claim 1, the memory further storing instructions for:
generating a network need representation using the identified user digital need;
wherein the digital degrees of separation measure is calculated using the network need representation.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein obtaining the list of user-accessible software applications comprises interrogating a user device to identify a list of installed software applications.

4. The system of claim 1, the memory further storing instructions for:
providing a user interface;
obtaining user input via the user interface; and
obtaining the list of user-accessible software applications using the user input.

5. The system of claim 1, the memory further storing instructions for:
identifying at least one category for the user digital need; and
querying the market availability database for the list of market-available software applications based on the at least one category for the user digital need.
6. The system of claim 1, the memory further storing instructions for:
generating a recommendation for one of the market-available software applications based on comparing characteristics of the one of the market-available software applications to the user-accessible software applications.

7. The system of claim 6, the memory further storing instructions for:
providing a recommendation to install the one of the market-available software applications on a user device.

8. The system of claim 1, the memory further storing instructions for:
querying an analytics database using the identified user digital need;
determining that the identified user digital need is new based on querying the analytics database; and
updating the analytics database using the identified user digital need.

9. A digital degrees of separation determination method, comprising:
obtaining user credentials;
determining a user classification based on the user credentials;
identifying a user digital need based on the user classification;
querying a market availability database for a list of market-available software applications related to the user digital need;
obtaining a list of user-accessible software applications related to the user digital need;
comparing characteristics of the market-available software applications to the user-accessible software applications; and
calculating a digital degrees of separation based on the comparison.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
generating a network need representation using the identified user digital need;
wherein the digital degrees of separation measure is calculated using the network need representation.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein obtaining the list of user-accessible software applications comprises interrogating a user device to identify a list of installed software applications.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
providing a user interface;
obtaining user input via the user interface; and
obtaining the list of user-accessible software applications using the user input.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
identifying at least one category for the user digital need; and
querying the market availability database for the list of market-available software applications based on the at least one category for the user digital need.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
generating a recommendation for one of the market-available software applications based on comparing characteristics of the one of the market-available software applications to the user-accessible software applications.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:
providing a recommendation to install the one of the market-available software applications on a user device.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
querying an analytics database using the identified user digital need;
determining that the identified user digital need is new based on querying the analytics database; and
updating the analytics database using the identified user digital need.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable digital degrees of separation determination instructions for:
obtaining user credentials;
determining a user classification based on the user credentials;
identifying a user digital need based on the user classification;
querying a market availability database for a list of market-available software applications related to the user digital need;
obtaining a list of user-accessible software applications related to the user digital need;
comparing characteristics of the market-available software applications to the user-accessible software applications; and
calculating a digital degrees of separation based on the comparison.

Dated this 01st Day of October, 2014
Shwetha A Chimalgi
OF K&S Partners
Agent for the Applicant
,TagSPECI:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This disclosure relates generally to enterprise software management, and more particularly to systems and methods for determining digital degrees of separation for digital program implementation.