Visualising Business Data: A Survey

• Main Authors: Richard C. Roberts, Robert S. Laramee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-11-01
• Series: Information
• Subjects: business; customer; ecosystem; visualisation; survey
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/9/11/285

A rapidly increasing number of businesses rely on visualisation solutions for their data management challenges. This demand stems from an industry-wide shift towards data-driven approaches to decision making and problem-solving. However, there is an overwhelming mass of heterogeneous data collected as a result. The analysis of these data become a critical and challenging part of the business process. Employing visual analysis increases data comprehension thus enabling a wider range of users to interpret the underlying behaviour, as opposed to skilled but expensive data analysts. Widening the reach to an audience with a broader range of backgrounds creates new opportunities for decision making, problem-solving, trend identification, and creative thinking. In this survey, we identify trends in business visualisation and visual analytic literature where visualisation is used to address data challenges and identify areas in which industries use visual design to develop their understanding of the business environment. Our novel classification of literature includes the topics of businesses intelligence, business ecosystem, customer-centric. This survey provides a valuable overview and insight into the business visualisation literature with a novel classification that highlights both mature and less developed research directions.