This article originally appeared on CXO Today.

The eCommerce industry has come a long way with emerging tech integrations. And at present, relying on gut feel to drive business decisions is no longer just risky—it’s a recipe for failure. While instincts can play a role in business, they should never be the sole basis for decision-making, especially when the stakes are high.

The numbers speak for themselves: best-in-class companies base 60% of their decisions on data. In contrast, companies that struggle to succeed base a staggering 70% of their business decisions on gut feel. In an era where AI is becoming integral to workforces, it’s almost criminal to ignore data in favor of intuition.

To understand the significance of data extraction, let’s consider a common issue faced by eCommerce businesses: cart abandonment.

Typically, eCommerce businesses juggle between 10 to 15 channels. For larger brands, the number would be much higher. When data is manually extracted from each, the chances of errors during data cleaning and transformation are high. Not only does this take a considerable amount of time—time that you may not have, it also compromises the quality of your insights.

One of the key advantages of data is its ability to provide real-time insights that allow you to adapt to changing customer behavior and market conditions. However, if it takes even a week to extract, clean, and analyze your data, the insights you gain may no longer be relevant, rendering them useless. In the fast-paced world of eCommerce, delayed data is almost as bad as no data at all.

So, what’s the solution? The answer lies in automating the process of data extraction and management with the help of eCommerce analytics tools. These tools can automatically fetch data from all your sales and marketing channels, drastically reducing the need for manual intervention. This not only ensures that your data is accurate but also that you receive insights in real-time.

By automating data extraction, you’re able to focus on what truly matters—analyzing the data and making informed decisions that drive your business forward. Real-time data allows you to respond to issues like cart abandonment immediately, optimize your marketing campaigns on the fly, and adjust your sales strategies to meet current demand. In essence, it allows you to stay agile in an increasingly competitive market.

When your decisions are based on solid data, each decision you make increases the probability of success. Data-driven decisions reduce the risk associated with business activities and provide a clear direction for growth. On the other hand, decisions based on gut feel are akin to gambling—they might pay off once in a while, but more often than not, they lead to missed opportunities and wasted resources.

Data extraction and management are not just technical processes—they are the backbone of modern eCommerce strategies. By automating these processes and making data the cornerstone of your decision-making, you improve your chances of success and ensure that your business is well-positioned to thrive in the competitive eCommerce industry.

Authored By Prem Bhatia, Co-Founder and CEO, of Graas.