According to the article History of Business Intelligence. The term Business Intelligence was used for the first time in 1865. Richard Miller Devens mentioned it in his book Cyclopedia of Commercial and Business Anecdotes.

In the book he describes the success of Sir Henry Furnese, a banker that had information of the market and political issues before his competitors did. “Throughout Holland, Flanders, France, and Germany, he maintained a complete and perfect train of business intelligence,” Devens writes of Furnese.

Source: panorama.com