
The evolution of the role: from IT director to strategic business partner
The difference between CIO, CTO, CDO, and CPO
The CIO as a driver of efficiency and innovation
The competencies of a successful CIO
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (1)
Building an IT strategy for business goals
Digital Transformation: drivers and stages
Assessing the maturity of IT and digital technologies
Creating a roadmap for 3–5 years
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (18)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (10)
Models and methods explained (9)
Organization of IT services and roles (DevOps, SecOps, ITSM)
Leadership and employee development
Interaction with top management and business units
Vendor and outsourcing management
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (8)
Models and methods explained (7)
Data-driven company: the role of the CIO
Data lakes, BI, real-time analytics
IT service metrics and KPIs
Collaboration with the CDO and Chief AI Officer
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Models and methods explained (6)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (1)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (11)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (8)
Models and methods explained (8)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (3)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (1)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (8)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (1)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (3)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (5)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (10)
Models and methods explained (4)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (1)
Models and methods explained (3)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Models and methods explained (4)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (4)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Models and methods explained (3)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Models and methods explained (5)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (1)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (3)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Models and methods explained (4)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (12)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (1)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (8)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Models and methods explained (3)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (13)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (1)
Models and methods explained (3)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (1)
Models and methods explained (3)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Models and methods explained (3)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Models and methods explained (9)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (8)
Models and methods explained (7)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Models and methods explained (4)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (3)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Services and apps shown in this lecture (15)
AI, IoT, blockchain, quantum, edge
How to select technologies that deliver value
Pilot projects and implementation
Integrating innovation into the business model
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (10)
Models and methods explained (5)
ITIL, COBIT, ISO as a management framework
CIO project portfolio management
Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid approaches
Collaboration with PMO
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Models and methods explained (12)
From cost center to profit center
The CIO as a member of the board of directors
Building a digital ecosystem
The future of the profession and new challenges
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (6)
Three CISO roles: risk manager, translator for the business and owner of the rules
Who the CISO reports to: the CIO, the CEO, or the CFO or COO
First month: listen and collect lists of assets, people, contracts and past incidents
Second month: assess top ten risks, quick wins and a maturity scale; third month: show the plan
Five first-week meetings and what the CEO expects to see on day 90
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (1)
Ready to use on the slides (9)
Models and methods explained (2)
The price-of-risk formula: expected annual loss from one event and its frequency
A ransomware calculation on real numbers
Probability and impact scales 1–5 and a 5 × 5 risk matrix with three zones
A risk register in seven columns and a risk acceptance threshold approved by the CEO
Four decisions on a risk: reduce, transfer, avoid or accept
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Seven policies instead of thirty: master policy, acceptable use, access, data classification, incidents,vendors, remote work
A one-page policy structure in six parts, from the reason to the owner and review date
Six steps from template to the CEO’s signature, agreed with HR and legal
Acceptable use of personal services and AI services with company data
How a policy gets read, not just signed: plain language, onboarding and a quarterly reminder
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (11)
Models and methods explained (1)
Three questions to choose the standard your clients will ask for
ISO 27001: 93 controls in four themes, Statement of Applicability and two audit stages
SOC 2: five trust criteria, Type 1 vs Type 2 reports and the observation window
CIS Controls: 18 controls and 56 safeguards of implementation group 1
A gap analysis in a week, certification cost and a four-quarter closing plan
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Models and methods explained (4)
What to switch MFA on for first: admins, executive email, VPN, financial systems, the whole company
SMS codes, push apps and passkeys: which MFA resists phishing
An access matrix by roles and systems with four values per cell
Privileged accounts, service accounts, a password manager and two accounts per admin
Grant, revoke and quarterly access review, plus a 90-day MFA rollout plan
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (9)
Two metrics of a phishing drill: click rate and report rate
The first phishing simulation in a week in seven steps
Five phishing email scenarios and the signs that give each one away
What to do with an employee who clicked, without public lists of names
A 12-month awareness calendar and security training in 15 minutes a quarter
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Models and methods explained (1)
A vendor list in a day from four sources: accounting, software payments, logins and data holders
Three levels of vendor access to data and what to check at each level
A vendor security questionnaire of 20 closed questions and scoring in three zones
Five security clauses for the vendor contract: breach notification, audit, data deletion, subcontractors,liability
Vendor review once a year and offboarding a vendor who leaves
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (10)
Four incident roles, each with a deputy, and a communication channel outside email
Four severity levels, from one computer to a stopped business
Six steps of incident response, from report to debrief, and the incident log
Who to notify and when: regulator within 72 hours, clients, insurer, police, employees
Texts of the first messages and a tabletop exercise twice a year with a backup restore test
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (10)
Models and methods explained (2)
A security budget built from the risk register, not from a market percentage
Six budget lines and an example budget for a company of 300 people
12 security metrics, from MFA coverage to time to contain and open red risks
Eight metrics on one monthly dashboard with color and direction
What protection saves: loss before, loss after and the price of the control
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (1)
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Four questions the board wants answered and what it never asks
Five slides of the board report, delivered in ten minutes
Translating technical findings into money and business risk
A bank of answers to 15 board questions and practice on six questions from the room
How to ask for budget with three options, and a quarterly reporting cadence
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (1)
Ready to use on the slides (8)
Models and methods explained (1)
Six identity classes from human to autonomous agent
Difference between an agent and a service account
Four breaks in service account governance
Delegation chain and the actor in the token
Risk profile for each identity class
One primary control per class
Identity class map for your company
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Models and methods explained (2)
Four places agents come from
Agent registries in six vendor consoles
Three identity sources: apps, grants, sign-ins
Two cloud sources: IAM and AI service logs
Four network and code sources
Two endpoint sources for shadow agents
Agent inventory register with 16 fields
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (15)
Models and methods explained (1)
Agent identity card: 9 fields
Sponsor, owner and backup
Agent purpose in one sentence
Purpose-to-permissions map
Expiry date and review cadence
Agent onboarding policy: 7 intake steps
Orphaned agent handover
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (10)
Models and methods explained (1)
Static key vs short-lived token
Workload identity federation in AWS, Google Cloud and Azure
Token exchange and on-behalf-of access
MCP authorization: one token, one audience
Per-task scope and just-in-time access
Human approval for high-risk actions
Token lifetime table by agent class
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (13)
Models and methods explained (6)
Four credential types an agent holds
Rotation without downtime: the overlap window
Seven-step rotation runbook
What survives a revocation
Eight-check revocation test
Proof of cut-off in the agent card
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (8)
Models and methods explained (2)
Seven signals of an agent baseline
Z-score and robust z-score for deviation
Percent over baseline and new-resource rate
Three action zones with thresholds
Agent risk score formula
Catalog of eight detections for agents outside their role
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (11)
Five questions every agent log answers
20-field telemetry schema for agents
Four log sources: runtime, cloud, identity, SaaS
Field mapping into your SIEM
Enrichment from the agent register
Six correlation rules in Sigma
SOC triage playbook with owner routing
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (16)
Models and methods explained (1)
Five response stages mapped to NIST SP 800-61 Rev. 3
Four severity levels for agent incidents
Kill switch in five levels
Evidence checklist for the first hour
Messages to the owner and the business
Four agent compromise scenarios
A 60-minute tabletop exercise
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (16)
Models and methods explained (1)
Three roles of a chief strategy officer: adviser, referee and builder
Three reporting lines of the CSO and who can overrule a decision to stop an initiative
Days 1–30 listening, days 31–60 a quiet draft, days 61–90 the first choice on paper
Five meetings of the first week and the same five questions for each
The day-90 pack for the CEO: one page, one money ask, a kill list and four dates
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Models and methods explained (1)
Profit pool of the market in four steps
Growth split into three sources: market growth, share change and acquisitions
Unit economics of a segment: LTV, fully loaded CAC and payback with benchmarks
Six metric cards with benchmarks and the Rule of 40 as a scale with action zones
The diagnosis one-pager and the five numbers for the CEO
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Bottom-up market sizing in one sheet, with TAM, SAM and SOM in numbers
Thirteen free sources of competitor intelligence
A competitor teardown card with five fixed slots
Signals from job postings, pricing pages and release notes
AI prompts for market research and an evidence pack with sources and dates
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (9)
The diagnosis as one sentence that names the obstacle
A guiding policy and what it rules out
Five steps from options to the call
Four signs of an empty strategy and three tests before the CEO sees it
The strategy on one page template and the do-not list
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (7)
An inventory of every running initiative with owner, cost and status
A scoring model with four weighted criteria
The true cost of an initiative in dollars
The reallocation rate of your company and kill thresholds at three gates
The portfolio sheet and five numbers for the budget conversation
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Three levels of the cascade: company, function and team
Translating one strategic move into three goals
A cascade workshop in four steps and one named owner per goal
Leading and lagging measures for every goal
The cascade map template and six signs of a broken cascade
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Models and methods explained (2)
The calendar of the strategy year: quarterly, monthly and annual reviews
A 90-minute quarterly review agenda and five areas of the review checklist
A dashboard of no more than twelve metrics with thresholds
Rules of the room, the invite list and the decision log after the meeting
A strategy office of one person
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (8)
Five slides of the board pack
At least 20 questions from the board and ready answers to the hardest ones
The script of a twenty-minute board presentation
Six cases of good and bad answers
Announcing the strategy to the company and answering “what does it mean for me”
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (9)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (9)
Models and methods explained (16)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (13)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (11)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (22)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (11)
Models and methods explained (4)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (13)
Models and methods explained (4)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (2)
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (1)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (9)
Models and methods explained (6)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (6)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (10)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Models and methods explained (5)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Models and methods explained (6)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Models and methods explained (2)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Models and methods explained (6)
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (10)
Models and methods explained (5)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (3)
Ready to use on the slides (11)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (3)
Ready to use on the slides (11)
Models and methods explained (1)
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (3)
Ready to use on the slides (15)
Models and methods explained (1)
This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.
420 tools for the Chief Information Officer in one course: 256 ready-to-use question lists, checklists, templates, procedures and matrices, 141 models and methods, and 23 services and apps shown on screen.
Open a lecture, take the tool, use it in your next IT decision.
Why strong engineers struggle as IT directors
A good engineer knows how systems work. An IT director answers other questions: what the business needs from IT in three years, what happens if the office is lost tomorrow, how much it all costs and who will build it. Without tools for strategy, risk, money and people, a new CIO keeps solving technical tasks while the business waits for a plan.
What changes after this course
You know what the role covers and where your priorities are. You have an IT strategy linked to business goals and a roadmap. You check infrastructure, security and continuity with checklists and know the weak points. You manage teams and vendors, speak with the CFO in numbers and measure IT with a small set of metrics. And you lead people so that engineers stay.
What is inside: 420 tools, counted file by file
You do not have to take this number on trust. Open any lecture and read its description: every tool inside is listed there by name.
Where the tools are
Who is teaching
I am Mike, the #1 HR instructor on Udemy, with 1,800,000+ course enrollments from 170,000 students, and the author of about 200 books on Amazon. I built the people system at Preply as it became a unicorn and worked at Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank across 20 years in HR. I hold PHRi, SHRM-CP and HCI sHRBP certifications and represent HRCI in Eastern Europe.
I came to IT early. At about 13 I got my first computer, an IBM 386SX, learned Turbo Pascal and then Delphi, and as a student I assembled computers and built one of the first networks in my dormitory. Then I trained as a banker, ended up in HR and worked closely with IT departments and IT directors. At Wargaming the IT director kept asking one question: what will we do if a tanker with acid overturns on the road next to our office and we have to evacuate? He thought about how the company would keep working after any accident. That way of thinking about risk and continuity runs through this course.
How to use the course
Watch the three CIO sections in order: role and strategy, infrastructure and teams, innovation and governance. Then use the people management lectures as a reference. Section and lecture titles show how many tools are inside, and each lecture description lists them by name.
What is included
Where to start
Open the first lecture and fill in the CIO role and priorities canvas. Then go through the IT current-state assessment checklist to see where your function stands today. Enrol now and start your first lesson today.