Marketers in China are getting hip to big data, according to data from the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology (CAICT). The organization expects spending on big data hardware, software and services to reach RMB 11.59 billion ($1.89 billion) this year.
That represents a roughly 38% increase over spending in 2014, when the CAICT found that 42% of the total went toward software. That was the largest slice of the pie, with firms in China devoting 34% of big data spending to hardware and the remaining 24% to services.
At that point, 32% of firms were currently using big data, and another 24% had set things up but not begun using them yet.
Respondents cited improving operational efficiency as the top expected benefit of big data, followed by the ability to make smarter decisions and improve risk management.
Challenges remain, however, and research from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) suggests that Chinese firms are behind when it comes to making use of big data. A September 2015 survey of C-level executives around the world found that on average, 65% of them felt their companies were making effective use of such data. But in China, the figure fell to just 32%.
