Data is a foundation element for insurance carriers, but an inability to extract useful information from it made its value somewhat overrated. Today, though, thanks to a combination of data tools and one extra element--business intelligence (BI)--data's value has soared, and the information carriers have been able to extract from it and share throughout the enterprise has caught the attention of carriers of all sizes.

Gail McGiffin, global partner for underwriting solutions with Accenture, sees an increased focus and investment in business intelligence. "It's being driven more from a business standpoint in terms of the business priorities of growth, catastrophe management, and things such as that," she says. "To me, that's a change in terms of having a more business-driven set of objectives for BI, which I think was needed.

There are three business drivers leading the expansion of BI, she believes. First, more innovative products and predictive pricing are fueling intelligent growth, and the BI investments help insurers get there.