CAIO Takes the Lead: IT Academy FabricaONE.AI Launches a New Executive Program
The program trains a new generation of executives for whom artificial intelligence is not an experiment, but a controlled tool for growth and operational efficiency.
Moving Beyond Experiments
Artificial intelligence in companies is reaching a moment of truth. Pilot projects have been launched, budgets spent, and expectations set high, yet fewer than 20% of AI initiatives ever reach full-scale industrial deployment. In practice, the bottleneck is rarely the quality of algorithms. Instead, it is the lack of systematic management. This gap is precisely what the new professional development program “Chief AI Officer (CAIO): From Strategy to Practice” is designed to address. The program is launched by the educational ecosystem IT Academy FabricaONE.AI, whose shareholder is Softline Group.
The market is increasingly clear: AI is no longer an experiment “to test hypotheses” but a core driver of business competitiveness. Investments are rising, shareholder and customer expectations are growing, while fragmented and chaotic implementations often lead to siloed solutions, inconsistent data, and outcomes that are difficult to measure. In this environment, demand is forming for a new executive role – the Chief AI Officer (CAIO), a leader responsible not for isolated projects but for the entire AI logic within an organization, from strategy through integration into core business processes.
Defining the CAIO’s Scope of Responsibility
The program’s author is Nikolay Trzhaskal, Director of AI Technology Development at FabricaONE.AI and an expert with more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry. The course is designed for decision-makers: executives, CDTOs, product owners, and specialists responsible for digital initiatives and the deployment of intelligent solutions in organizations.
The program’s learning architecture mirrors the real operational cycle of a Chief AI Officer. Six modules and a final capstone project cover AI strategy and the CAIO’s role within the organization, enterprise AI platform architecture, data management and ML/LLM infrastructure, responsible and regulatory-compliant AI use, AI project portfolio management, and the formation of effective cross-functional teams.
The focus is deliberately placed not on technology itself, but on managerial and organizational competencies – the missing layer that often prevents AI from evolving beyond a collection of disconnected initiatives.
Learning, Practice, and Inspiration
IT Academy has consistently worked on developing both managerial and applied competencies. Its Summer School of Digital HR Transformation trained specialists in the use of AI tools, while this year the Academy’s online events attracted 339 employees from more than 200 Russian companies.
“At IT Academy webinars, experts shared hands-on experience in digitalizing HR processes across different industries. As a result, there were many practical recommendations. In addition, speakers analyzed trend development and offered forward-looking forecasts,” says Larisa Novikova, Senior Specialist at the Human Capital and Digital Services Development Directorate of NLMK Group.
Ekaterina Dacheva, Head of Professional Competencies Projects at United Aircraft Corporation, found the course particularly inspiring: “The webinars examined modern services and tools in detail, many of which can be implemented immediately or in the short term. This encouraged us to explore new technologies and rethink established approaches.”
In parallel, business-focused AI implementation was supported through a joint program with CoMind. Expert discussions on digital corporate culture shaped managerial understanding of transformation, while partnerships with YuChat advanced edtech solutions and corporate communications.
At the same time, FabricaONE.AI clusters were developing AI products, including AI agents and polymodal solutions. Together, these efforts laid the foundation for the emergence of a next-generation management role.
Toward a New Management Standard
The launch of the “Chief AI Officer (CAIO): From Strategy to Practice” program can be viewed as a step toward establishing a management standard for AI across sectors – from large enterprises to the public sector. Growth in corporate learning tracks and industry-specific formats is likely, along with integration of the program into Softline’s transformation projects and those of its partners.
IT Academy FabricaONE.AI is strengthening its position as a center of expertise in digital transformation, helping businesses and government organizations move from fragmented AI experiments to systematic, managed, and measurable outcomes.
