Editor's Note: This article has been contributed by Kent Lefner, the North American Leader of the Business Information Management Practice at Capgemini Financial Services Global Business Unit.

Insurance claims fraud is big business—and it's getting bigger. Fraud rates are increasing by 19 percent each year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), and contributing roughly $336 billion per year globally to insurance claim costs, according to a 2010 Capgemini study. With more people resorting to fraudulent activities, companies are continually looking for ways to reduce the impact of fraud on their businesses.

Insurance companies' action has been tepid but maturing with an evolution toward interconnecting operational systems and leveraging technology to automate workflow-supported analysis and prediction across lines of business. This movement will further enable insurance companies to rapidly detect and respond to fraudulent claims and save millions of dollars annually. With that in mind, organizations need a clear understanding of current trends, challenges, available technology solutions, and key areas to focus on to be able to deploy or improve an insurance claims fraud program.