Finding 'right model' vital for big data success

Though Chinese enterprises are stepping up their efforts to unlock the full potential of big data, a treasured asset, they are still struggling to come up with the right business models.

"The most difficult part for developing big data businesses in China is how to monetize it," said Lei Jun, CEO and founder of Chinese handset maker Xiaomi Corp.

"Currently, we are facing huge financial burden, given the heavy investments needed to ensure its sustainable development," Lei said at the opening ceremony of an international big data summit in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province.

Xiaomi is providing cloud services for 97 million users, with over 1,000 petabyte photos and videos stored in its cloud-storage services.

"It takes a wealth of money to preserve such data," Lei said, adding the cost of saving one petabyte of information exceeds 3 million yuan ($484,000).

In Lei's eyes, financing will be the first sector to reap profits from big data.

"Financing needs a lot of people and technology to execute the various transactions and hence can benefit from the use of big data," Lei said.

As part of its efforts to tap the big data boom, Xiaomi launched a money market fund earlier this month to transfer data resources into concrete commercial values.