Jack Ma, Chairman of the Board of Alibaba Group, delivers a speech at Global Big Data Era Guiyang Summit during the Guiyang International Big Data Expo 2015 in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 26, 2015. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)
(ECNS) -- China is progressing from an Information Technology (IT) era to a period that favors Data Technology (DT), Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma said on Wednesday.
The DT era is represented by big data technology, which might appear to be simply an upgrade from previous technologies. However, DT and IT are two essentially different things, Ma said at the Big Data Expo in Guiyang, Guizhou province in southwest China.
"The IT era can be used to strengthen yourself, while the DT period can be utilized to strengthen others. The former places others at your service while the latter allows you to serve others."
In the IT era, 20 percent of companies grew while another 80 percent were left confused. In contrast, the DT era could unleash the potential of this 80 percent and bring revolutionary change to the world, he said.
Ma added that the IT era turned humans into machines while the DT era transformed machines into smart beings, China Youth Daily reported.
He stated that the No. 1 resource for the manufacturing industry would be data instead of oil.
Pan Yonghua, a senior research manager from Alibaba, believes DT requires better data-processing capabilities.
