In coming years, the biggest claims crisis you will face may not be lack of tort reform, increased hurricane activity, or even climate change. If expert projections hold, you will need to deal with an exodus of your most experienced claims talent as more adjusters reach retirement age at the same time you find yourself competing to hire from a smaller pool of incoming adjusters. Deloitte Consulting crunched the numbers and uncovered 70 percent of the insurance claims work force now is over age 40, projecting a shortfall of 84,000 adjusters by 2014.

"The talent crisis is real," says Margaret Resce Milkint, partner at the insurance executive search and staffing firm The Jacobson Group. "Competition for claims talent already is more intense than I've ever seen, and I've been at this for 22 years. The big question for the insurance industry is where is the next generation of talent–who will be my successor?"

For their part, insurers have become keenly aware of the problem. For instance, in TowerGroup surveys for the past several years, carriers' top concern in claims had been leakage. This year, that changed. "The number-one concern now is the retiring baby boomers and their knowledge leaving the company," says Karen Pauli, senior analyst in TowerGroup's insurance practice.