Reprising last year's 12 Gifts of Celent on 12/12 I thought it was worth looking at free gifts offered, namely the most popular posts from 2013 on this very blog. I've gone for most popular blogs or blog sets by page views, which of course favours the older blogs because they've had longer to accumulate the views, but let's work with this data anyway. It's been a busy year and it's not done yet, but here are some useful discussions you may yet have missed. So in the style of a new years top 10 count down, here are Celent's top 12 blog posts:

• In at number 12 is a new entrant (well, a recent post) musing on the sentiments from ACORD's Insurance Technology Congress in London this year. There was a sense that attitudes towards technology change even in some of the oldest parts of the global insurance industry were thawing, boosting optimism that useful, quick change was achievable.
• At number 11, a new years post asking how the insurance industry should respond to the growing openness in government departments and the availability of ever more data.
• At number 10, not the UK's Prime Minister, but clearly as important, a write-up of Celent's initial UK CIO Roundtable discussing technology in the workplace and innovating with suppliers. Innovation proves a popular subject in the top 10.
• As we enter the home straight of single digits at number 9, fast followers also have work to do. Celent's Mike Fitzgerald observes, from conversations at IASA this year that even if a company chooses not to be the innovator, there are challenges in following the right innovations effectively.
• At number 8 the theme stays with innovation, this time looking at the role of mobile technology - particularly in emerging markets.
• A change of subject at number 7; we discuss balancing domain expertise, delivery capability and technology in new insurance core systems.
• Back to innovation at number 6 with a discussion on what it takes to become a Chief Innovation Officer. Is this the new role for a CIO? Something the CEO does? An adjacent role or something different? A look at what's involved and some pointers for further reading.
• Topping the final 5 we continue the discussion started last year on the end of auto insurance with a look at the work of others. Although it's not in the top 12, another blog on the subject from Donald Light is available here. Donald argues that the key variable is "when".
• At number 4 we discuss social data and specifically, realising the ROI of social media. A longer post supported by a report in our library on the same topic.
• The second runner up at number 3 is our write up of Creative Disruption London, some great disruptive case studies from around the globe. While it was perhaps too recent to make it into the top 12 it's worth revisiting the write-up and content from our event in San Francisco, “What’s next: The Search for Disruptive Innovation” and the roundtable the night before - Making Innovation Happen.
• Number 2 is actually a collection of blogs chronicling the consolidation of the market in 2013, including Insurity and AQS, Guidewire and Millbrook and, SAP and Camillion.
• And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for or just skipped straight ahead to (it is a blog after all), our number 1 is: Innovation – What can the insurance industry learn from Steve Jobs and Apple? some views and actions from Celent's own SVP of Insurance, Jamie Macgregor. So there you are. One not on the list that I thought worth highlighting was SaaS Policy Administration Systems: The Time Is Now, because it is a thought to take into 2014.

If I missed one you particularly liked do let me know. Maybe I can find a home for that too. Happy Holidays from Celent!