This fall, Americans face a double whammy: hurricane season and elections! Both involve a whole lot of wind. And both are likely to cost us a lot of money, regardless of where the hurricanes hit or which party gets the majority in Congress. Both are bound to cost more in taxes. If only we could be guaranteed some greater "value" for our money.

Travelers to Europe will be familiar with the "VAT," the value-added tax, which Americans can get refunded after departure with a bit of effort. The concept of "value added," however, is one that has great significance for adjusters, both company and independents. Adjusters deal with information. It covers a variety of topics, from law, coverage, and contracts to damage evaluation. Much of what we do is simply processing all of that information to settle a claim, a financial transaction under some sort of contract or legal obligation. But what if we could make the information more valuable? That would be like getting our elected politicians to actually legislate something of value instead of just spending our money in Washington on unnecessary pork.

If we are living in the Information Age, then information has to have value beyond just the raw material of data. The Agricultural Age would have been just fields of dirt until they were plowed and seeded and the crops harvested. The Industrial Age would have been just iron ore and coal without factories that turned heat and iron into steel products. The Atomic Age was just uranium ore and heavy water until scientists turned it into a bomb and produced dead bodies — and then added value by turning it into nuclear power, of much greater value. So it is with information.