Scenario: Imagine you are working for a company that handles a vast amount of customer data, including personal information, purchase history, and user preferences. The company's existing relational database struggles to keep up with the increasing data volume and real$-$time data processing demands. The company is considering adopting a NoSQL database like HBase to overcome scalability and performance challenges.

Discussion Question: As a data engineer, how would you explain the benefits of using HBase's column$-$family data model to the company's decision$-$makers? What advantages does this data model offer in managing diverse customer data efficiently?