![John Kellington, Senior VP and CIO at The Cincinnati Insurance Companies](http://media.assettype.com/cdo%2Fimport%2Fcdomagazine.tech%2Fcontent%2Ftncms%2Fassets%2Fv3%2Feditorial%2F9%2F8b%2F98bc5b9b-f6cd-5ba1-b721-3b26a2ac4fd8%2F5dbc5776a051b.image.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
Do you see any trade-off between innovation and standardization? Can you give me an example?
“Honestly, I don’t see a trade-off, I think they come hand in hand. I think it’s very important for organizations to have standards in development, delivery, support – you build best practices that become the standards you drive to. But how do you know whether they are always effective, or if there’s a better way? Having a focus also on innovation helps you become a better organization because they feed one another. You standardize, you see your opportunities for improvement, you innovate to get better and that drives more standards. I think they are two powerful arms that have to work together in conjunction.”