CLIAMS:We claim:

1. An application portfolio management method, comprising:
receiving application usage data associated with software applications utilized by a plurality of users;
obtaining computer program instructions for processing the application usage data;
processing, using one or more hardware processors, the application usage data according to the computer program instructions, to generate a recommendation for one or more maintenance operations associated with one or more of the applications; and
providing the generated recommendation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the recommendation includes at least one of:
a recommendation to terminate a software license,
a recommendation to renew a software license,
a recommendation to upgrade software to a newer version,
a recommendation to retire or decommission an application, or
a recommendation to upgrade hardware associated with an application.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:
generating automatically a software maintenance message according to the recommendation; and
providing the software maintenance message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing application usage data includes user feedback, and wherein the computer program instructions for processing the application usage data are obtained based on parsing the user feedback.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
providing access-enabling software associated with the software applications;
wherein the access-enabling software is associated with a web browser user interface.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the application usage data comprises one or more of:
a number of subscriptions to the software applications,
a time elapsed since the development of the software applications, or
a ratio of the time the applications are available to the time the applications are unavailable.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:
generating an alert notifying whether the ratio of the time the applications are available to the time the applications are unavailable falls below a predetermined threshold.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the application usage data comprises at least one of: information identifying user keyboard activity; information identifying user mouse activity; information identifying user login activity; or information reflecting user satisfaction.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer program instructions define a frequency for processing the application usage data.

10. An application portfolio management system, comprising:
a hardware processor; and
a memory storing processor-executable instructions for:
receiving application usage data associated with software applications utilized by a plurality of users;
obtaining computer program instructions for processing the application usage data;
processing the application usage data according to the computer program instructions, to generate a recommendation for one or more maintenance operations associated with one or more of the applications; and
providing the generated recommendation.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the recommendation includes at least one of:
a recommendation to terminate a software license,
a recommendation to renew a software license,
a recommendation to upgrade software to a newer version,
a recommendation to retire or decommission an application, or
a recommendation to upgrade hardware associated with an application.

12. The system of claim 11, the memory further storing instructions for:
generating automatically a software maintenance message according to the recommendation; and
providing the software maintenance message.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing application usage data includes user feedback, and wherein the computer program instructions for processing the application usage data are obtained based on parsing the user feedback.

14. The system of claim 10, the memory further storing instructions for:
providing access-enabling software associated with the software applications;
wherein the access-enabling software is associated with a web browser user interface.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the application usage data comprises one or more of:
a number of subscriptions to the software applications,
a time elapsed since the development of the software applications, or
a ratio of the time the applications are available to the time the applications are unavailable.

16. The system of claim 15, the memory further storing instructions for:
generating an alert notifying whether the ratio of the time the applications are available to the time the applications are unavailable falls below a predetermined threshold.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the application usage data comprises at least one of: information identifying user keyboard activity; information identifying user mouse activity; information identifying user login activity; or information reflecting user satisfaction.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer program instructions define a frequency for processing the application usage data.

Dated this 1st day of January 2014
R. RAMYA RAO
OF K&S PARTNERS
AGENT FOR THE APPLICANT
,TagSPECI:TECHNICAL FIELD
This disclosure relates generally to information technology management, and more particularly to systems and methods for enterprise application portfolio management.