Framework to Support Cloud Service Selection Based on Service Measurement Index

Cloud service customers, both individual and corporate customers often face problems when choosing the right cloud services, given a substantial number of cloud services avaliable today. It is also difficult to determine which cloud service is the best for a customer since different customers have different requirements with regard to functionality and quality of the cloud services, quality of the cloud providers, and price requirements. A top-ranked service may not necessarily be the best choice for a customer as it might perform better than required by the customer and that might come with high price. In addition, there are several technical quality attributes that a customer should consider. This paper aims to assist prospective customers in choosing a cloud service. Based on the Service Measurement Index (SMI) which is a hierarchical model of critical quality attributes and measures of cloud services, the paper proposes a framework for a customer to follow to specify service quality requirements and target candidate services. Using the proposed service quality requirement questionnaire and a cloud services catalog, the customer can create a requirement vector and cloud service vector and use a similarity measure to identify the service that best matches the requirements. The paper discusses an application of this framework to the case of an air freight business in Thailand.