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Businesses of all types now have more data on consumers than ever before. Most fail to properly use this data, and the spoils go to those businesses that know how to use this new landscape of available data.

Leveraging data properly is not just something for businesses, as President Obama showed during his election campaigns; Obama, and the Democrats in general, have built a recent reputation for leveraging voter data to great effect at the polls. Now Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate, Charlie Baker (News - Alert), is trying to do the same on the Republican side.

The Baker campaign has developed what it calls its supercomputer of voter data, a massive trove that includes things like classic car ownership to musical preference. The campaign has spent roughly $2 million on the project, according to the Boston Globe.

The campaign says it now has something like 5,000 data points on every potential voter, which would be far ahead of the vote-targeting apparatus President Obama used in 2008.

Using this data is as important as collecting it, however, and the Baker campaign is making the most of its data.

The Baker campaign has said that it is employing field metric dashboards that feature info from its data collection, as well as Web-based predictive dialer applications that make calling supporters easier. It also has text-based Twitter (News - Alert) marketing that leverages the data.

This is campaigning like we’ve never seen it before. And businesses should pay attention, because there’s little difference between winning a vote and getting a consumer to try a new product or service.

Savvy businesses also need to take advantage of the available data and integrate it with key technologies such as predictive dialers. The combination can help firms both understand and better connect with customers, which drives sales and builds loyalty.

Some have questioned whether the Baker campaign in Massachusetts has gone too far with its data collecting obsession. These criticisms may be valid. But whether or not it has gone too far, it is clear that data can and should play a larger role in political campaigns. And this is no less true for business.