Business intelligence (BI) refers to skills, technologies, applications and practices used to help a business acquire a better understanding of its commercial context. Visual BI goes a step further by creating a picture of the commercial context.
Visual Business Intelligence is knowledge based on the application of visual data to a business problem or opportunity. The important stories that numbers have to tell often involve location; where things are or where they’ve occurred. VBI analyses and communicates quantitative business information.
The process of Visual Business Intelligence starts with the collection of data which is analysed to create a unique visual storyboard. This information becomes knowledge when it is applied to a business problem or opportunity. For example, data may be collected from a supply chain event; the events are logged against a product batch as it moves between partners in a supply chain - the time it is in their possession, what happened to it, and where it went next. This data is analysed and visualised on a timeline answering simple questions: How long was it with a logistics operator? This visual analysis becomes knowledge; the application of the data to business may include streamlining distribution processes and decreasing spoilage. An opportunity then exists to go a step further to forecast and even simulate supply chain modeling.