In professional sports, massive amounts of data have helped teams like the St. Louis Cardinals dominate Major League Baseball for 10-plus years. Specifically, the Cardinals have harnessed predictive analytics to find inefficiencies and carve out a winning strategy.

Wondering how the Cardinals performed so well with seemingly weak farm teams? By looking at the data differently—by breaking the mold and using complex algorithms and patterns of human intuition to predict performance that outpaced all other teams. This was executed by bringing their draft picks to the big leagues, scoring home runs and consistently winning.

While not as sexy as this Moneyball-like example, many of the country's most successful businesses, including insurance firms, also use predictive analytics to their benefit. Confusion around the concept still runs high, but once it is mastered, it's like finding a hidden treasure that betters business, including your claims processing.