Business Information Visualization: A Visual Intelligence-Based Framework

Business Intelligence aims to improve decision quality. Research on BI achieving this goal is inconclusive, yet BI is still one of the top priorities among CIOs and is an active IS research area. A better understanding of the relationship between human intelligence and BI capabilities may lead to more fruitful BI endeavors. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that links capabilities of Business Information Visualization, a key modern BI enabler, to non-verbal (visual) intelligence abilities, and suggests propositional guidelines of how BI could improve decision making by impacting these intelligence abilities. The paper demonstrates that there is strong research support to suggest such linkages. Better understanding of what human abilities are important for better decisions, and what specific BI capabilities are needed to support these abilities will help improve the design, deployment, and utilization of BI tools, and, hopefully ultimately, achieve more efficient and effective business decisions.

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