Today, most businesses understand what big data can do. Big data - the vast and even sometimes overwhelming information that encompasses the day-to-day process of running a business: sales strategies, open rates of marketing emails, website clicks, etc. Making good use of big data also allows you to discover the behavior and psychology of consumers.

Having big data and data analytics tools does help, but it's also a double-edged sword: relying too heavily on data can cause us to lose sight of our own powerful intuitions (and often even the right ones). These hunches in turn cannot be quantified. To address this issue, three entrepreneurs from the Young Entrepreneurs Council (YEC) offer the following advice on how to utilize big data without blindly following the numbers and leaving all business decisions at the mercy of big data.

1. Big data is only a guide, but it can't be the only thing we rely on

I think big data is very effective, but we can't be completely "at the head of big data" when we make brand marketing decisions. There should be a method that effectively combines big data and "intuitive judgment". I can attract new users to my brand by using data as a guide, but I'm not going to let that data dictate how I interact with my readers.

_Sean Ogle of Location Rebel

2. Understanding business data needs

Depending on your business model, you need to consider your access to data, how easy it is to measure, whether you have room for human error, and whether you're investigating opinions, facts or data. Consider these elements before you go full bore with big data and don't follow it blindly. It's your business and you're the expert on it

_Kevin Conner of Vast Bridges

3. Analyzing data to find potential customers

Big data has allowed my business and sales to understand and predict user behaviors, for example, in what scenarios do people shop online and what do they buy? What scenarios are users likely to move to in the coming months. This allows sales teams to identify prospects - customers who are actually expected to buy a product or service - and the best time to market to them.

_John Daniel of Innovator John

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