Pre-feasibility work is important, as initiating index insurance schemes is often very challenging. For example, the need for accurate and reliable data for the establishment of the index creates major challenges in many developing countries. For years there has been underinvestment in meteorological services and infrastructure and very often data series are simply not available. There are a number of prerequisites that are necessary for the implementation of pilot or scheme and practitioners should seek to identify whether these are available at the very outset of the activity. In certain cases, where some prerequisites are missing, there may be alternative solutions and technology can play an important role in this regard. For example, where traditional weather data is missing, “synthetic weather” has been constructed using a number of data sources to backfill missing gaps.