1. Future of QA in the Business Environment Yael Ravin ravin@us.ibm.com T. J. Watson Research Center, IBM

2. Current status QA markets itself –Natural interface –Succinct –Easy to assess success But this can backfire –difference b/w QA and full NLP understanding (ellipsis, dialog context) –continuum from single facts to judgements

3. Market for QA: Search For employees in the company –increase productivity "What is the meal limit for Toulouse?" –training "When should I open the emergency door?" –support innovation "What new sedan features were introduced in the last 6 months?"

4. Market for QA: Search (continued) For consumers –online shopping "Do you sell mice with no cords?" –online support "How do I attach a printer to my ThinkPad 570?" Between companies –match making "Who does PR for small theater productions?"

5. Integrate QA within other products Work within different business domains and user needs: –shopping, expertise locator, business intelligence,... Integrate with other functionalities –a generic search engine –a dialog system Operate with multiple sources of info: –databases, text, presentations, business rules

6. Issues for QA in business Develop case scenarios with partners Prototype QA for applications and learn what is useful Develop measures: –performance - simultaneous users –what is good enough for customers to use –cost of customization –one time and on-going –linguists vs.domain experts