Big Data revenues to reach $965m by 2018 in Brazil

Brazilian organizations are set to invest $965m in Big Data tools by 2018, according to a study published by consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

The research indicates that the Brazilian Big Data and analytics segment is already busy: market revenues have already reached $243.6m in 2013. It all sounds good, but there are challenges ahead.

The bullish predictions made by Frost echo Gartner warnings that many Brazilian businesses will be under pressure to "do Big Data" in 2014 without knowing exactly how to take advantage of what these tools can offer - and vendors are not exactly helpful.

"Service providers' current offers are not clear enough to help clients understand the returns on investment. Differing taxonomy by various vendors to define big data make the various investment options all the more confusing," the consulting firm says in a statement.

"As a result, the biggest user demand in this budding market is currently for consulting services on how to use big data and capitalize on its advantages. Service providers too are working with universities to train and create more experts while simultaneously developing user-friendly solutions," it adds.

The study suggests that the most mature verticals in terms of Big Data adoption in Brazil are finance, telecommunications, manufacturing and retail, adding that government investments in big data "will grow exponentially" as projects focused on driving efficiency, security and transparency come on-stream.

Join a ZDNet webinar next week about the current opportunities and challenges of Big Data in Brazil, as well as a case study covering the experiences of the Minas Gerais government around making sense of data. The webinar will be in Portuguese and will take place on 27 February. Click here to register.