Allstate is best known for being the "good hands" company, founded in 1931 to insure cars and property. But like other companies of a certain age, it needs to venture into new areas. That's what the insurance giant—number 84 on this year's Fortune 500 list with $36.5 billion in revenue—has done over the past few years, starting up its CompoZed Labs unit to speed up development of new software services.