4 Ways Your Business Can Leverage Its Proprietary Data Few brands know how to benefit from it. Make sure yours is among those that does.

Step aside, content — data is king.

The more you know about your customer base (and your potential customers), the better off you are, no matter what line of work you're in. Most businesses gather a fair bit of data about their customers, including phone numbers, email addresses, places of work and purchasing habits.

Seventy-nine percent of enterprise executives believe organizations risk falling behind if they don't embrace big data. They might even risk extinction. On the other hand, businesses that use it well will often see an 8 to 10 percent increase in profit and a similar reduction in costs. You may be sitting on a gold mine and not even know it.