By Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel B. Rasmussen

It’s hard not to feel a sense of reverence at the scale of all the information we generate. We create so much data every day that 90 percent of the information in the world today has been created in the last two years alone, according to IBM (IBM). To handle all that data, McKinsey estimates that by 2018, U.S. businesses will need 1.5 million new data managers and analysts.

Is it any wonder that these awe-inspiring numbers have managers excited that all this information will reveal amazing insights? For businesses, the promise of such revealing data sounds like a dream come true—a direct line to their customers, gaining immediate access to their habits, desires, and needs. Clearly, mining data for consumer intelligence has paid off for shareholders in companies like Amazon and Netflix.

“Only an understanding of behavior at the deepest level can explain seismic shifts in consumer behavior. And that can open up possibilities for innovation.”

Read the full article on Bloomberg Businessweek here.

[Banner image by Rock'n Roll Monkey, via Unsplash]