While some burning issues in insurance technology become yesterday's news after a time, data management is always news. The fundamental challenges of data management remain, particularly data quality, and have grown more complex for a couple of reasons: the recognition of the need to maintain control of the input paths of data as well as the increasing realization of the value of unstructured data. This new awareness has driven more focus on data management strategies.

Larry Danielson, a partner in the consulting practice at Deloitte, doesn't believe finding the right data management strategy is a difficult task for carriers as long as they bring together people with the right expertise and business knowledge. "You have to get definitions, set up a governance structure, and then build it," he says. "It takes a good bit of work before you actually can see a business result. In these times, it will be even harder to justify [the expense]."

The mission of the insight and innovation team within Farmers Insurance is to promote science-driven decision-making, according to Murli Buluswar, vice president. "The idea behind insight and innovation was we thought there was an opportunity to use data more effectively to help us make better decisions," he says.