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Traditionally, the driving force behind decision-making has been the experience and instincts of business leaders. And unfortunately, that’s one of the primary reasons behind the unsettling statistic that 90% of small businesses and start-ups fail. Experience and instincts are valuable, of course, but research confirms that businesses that base decisions on data – not instincts or experience – are 19 times more likely to be profitable.

While intuition can provide a hunch or spark that starts you down a particular path, it's through data that you verify, understand, and quantify. According to a survey of more than 1,000 senior executives conducted by PwC, highly data-driven organizations are three times more likely to report significant improvements in decision-making compared to those who rely less on data.

Instead of relying purely on data to make decisions, a data-informed approach uses these same systems and processes to analyze data -- yet does not base business decisions solely on the analysis output. Instead, the data is used as a guide or measuring stick, combined with human-derived information coming from business leaders and decision-makers.