Each year, Celent surveys insurance company CIOs, asking them about their pressures, priorities, and practices for the coming year. This year’s report covers two topics: selected results from the 2013 CIO survey, and how CIOs enable innovation in their companies.

In the report, 2013 North America Insurance CIO Survey: Pressures, Priorities—and Innovation, Celent describes the range of IT budgets as a percentage of premium, year over year changes in IT budgets, and three strategies for core system replacements. The report also describes how CIOs are dealing with the four levels of Celent’s Innovation model: perception; analysis; process, decisions, and experience; and results.

“Insurers who view innovation as integral to their business are focused on creating the right organization for identifying and deploying innovative projects,” says Chuck Johnston, Research Director with Celent’s Insurance Group and coauthor of the report. “In many cases, these are IT-led initiatives, since technology is seen as an innovation enabler.”

“Four categories of initiatives consume just over half of total new project resources: policy administration; new business / underwriting / rating; distribution and external portals; and claims,” adds Donald Light, Director, Americas Property/Casualty with Celent’s Insurance Group and coauthor of the report.

This 20-page report has six figures.