The Chinese respondents see location-aware data and mobile customer interaction data as most important to their competitiveness but may not be making adequate use of other and new sources of data such as social media data, data from cloud-based applications and Internet of Things, and sensor data.

Other findings in PwC’s 7^th Annual Digital IQ Survey, are that companies in China are confident they understand the value of digital technology. They believe they have all the support they need in terms of a CEO who champions digital and the technology skills needed to execute on their digital vision. Ninety percent agree or strongly agree with the statement ‘we pro-actively evaluate and plan for security and privacy risks’.

And spend on digital is significant; over half ( 56%) of the companies surveyed in China are spending more than 10% of their revenue on digital enterprise investments and 10% are spending more than a fifth.

Scott Likens, PwC China information and analytics leader, said: “Businesses in China have a huge opportunity to take the lead on the global stage when it comes to digital. They have a solid investment in IT and a good foundation of digital skills which will provide an excellent platform for future development.”

PwC’s 7th Annual Digital IQ Survey includes 1,836 respondents from over 50 countries, covering a wide range of industry sectors and will be launched globally on 30 Sept 2015.