When I built a new house a few years back, I knew enough to look to the future needs of a growing family. In some cases–such as roughing in the concrete basement floor for future plumbing–I did a good job of planning. But in other areas, I didn't. Specifically, I put too much faith in predictions of the immediate future of the wireless home, eschewing running spare network cables to rooms likely to need them.

Unfortunately, the realities of advertised vs. actual wireless network capabilities, as well as the perils of multistory HVAC interference, soon became apparent. As a result, when I turned the unfinished basement into a media room a few years later, I couldn't connect to the wireless router located two floors higher. It took many hours of additional work and a handful of technological work-arounds to reach a solution that's still not quite as good as it could have been had I just done a better job of future-proofing my design.

When it comes to future-proofing their own investments in technology, insurers focus on two related objectives. First, systems should resist obsolescence for as long as possible and remain adequate to handle future needs of the business.