Few insurers are capturing, analyzing, and gaining insight frombig data, though a significant number plan to invest in theinfrastructure for it within the next 12 months, according to newresearch released by the research and advisory firm Novarica.

"Data analysis is at the core of the insurance industry, meaningimminent investments in the infrastructure required to process bigdata is no surprise," says Martina Conlon, a principal at Novaricaand author of the report. "Insurers are already broadly utilizing'small data' analytics, such as geospatial data andconsumer/business data, but the reality is that big data is not yettruly a priority for most insurers."

The report, "Analytics and Big Data at Insurers 2013," examinesthe current and likely future state of analytics capabilities andthe preparation for use of big data. It is based on results of asurvey conducted in April 2013 of 55 insurer CIO numbers of theNovarica Insurance Technology Research Council, a moderatedmembership group of more than 300 senior insurance ITexecutives.

"Insurers who do not have proximate plans to invest in big datacan begin to prepare themselves now by outlining a technologyvision drawn from business goals and IT principles," adds Conlon."Developing a culture in which business leaders trust IT's visionand analytics-driven insights will be immensely helpful wheninsurers begin a more robust adoption of big data."