Innovation Group has released the Innovation Data Mastery Maturity Model (IDMMM), a product designed to help insurers understand milestones and identifiers in the data mastery journey so they are better equipped to create a roadmap and strategy that maximizes the business value of solutions, including Innovation Group's Insurer Analytics.

As outlined in a corresponding whitepaper, the new IDMMM serves as the "handbook" for process improvements to control current and future data. According to Innovation Group, reaching the highest level of data mastery requires an enterprise commitment, investment, strategy and roadmap and maturation in five specific areas:

1. Strategy and governance
2. Management and people
3. Data integration
4. Data technology and tools
5. Data quality technology

Over the past 8 years, business intelligence (BI) and analytics have been top business priorities for insurers, as evidenced by the annual growth in budget. Insurers now understand they must undertake data quality initiatives within their own data programs to master their current "small data" challenges before big data overtakes projects and initiatives within the company, the company says. According to the company, the IDMMM can help insurers gain business insight in the interest of increasing revenue, decreasing expenses, improving customer relationships, and heightening ease of doing business for all stakeholders.

"Novarica research indicates that business intelligence and data-related efforts are top priorities for insurers in 2014," explains Martina Conlon, principal, insurance, for Novarica. "Many insurers struggle to understand the relative effectiveness and maturity of their existing data architecture, processes and data strategy. Having an independent conceptual framework can be a useful tool for highlighting areas of strength and areas in need of development, as well as guiding insurers to the level of maturity needed to deliver strategic data analytics capabilities."