Transform
Technology, infrastructure, cloud, applications or suppliers need significant change, and the organisation needs a clear, well-supported route from strategy and design through to delivery.
Independent senior technology consulting · UK
Technology clarity for complex businesses
Independent senior technology consulting that connects strategy, architecture and delivery across complex technology change.
Bringing the technical, operational and commercial picture together helps leadership teams make clearer decisions and carry them through into practical, reliable delivery.
Where Nakatomi helps
When complexity matters
Nakatomi works alongside leadership teams when a technology challenge spans strategy, architecture, operations, suppliers and commercial decisions, bringing an experienced independent view of the whole picture and helping people move forward with clarity and confidence.
Stabilise
Something is unreliable, fragile, poorly understood or operationally risky, and people need a calm, structured view of both the immediate issue and its underlying causes.
Simplify
Years of technology, supplier and process decisions have accumulated until cost, ownership, dependencies and direction are difficult to see clearly, making confident decisions harder than they should be.
Assure
A significant technology decision, proposal, supplier or investment would benefit from independent senior review, constructive challenge and a clear view of the technical and commercial implications.
Operate better
The technology broadly works, but resilience, service ownership, processes, supplier management or ways of working need to become more predictable, collaborative and supportable.
Selected work & experience
Work with substance
Work delivered under the Nakatomi consulting brand is shown as Nakatomi work. Major programmes Robert delivered in previous senior roles are shown separately as experience Nakatomi brings to current client engagements.
Haulage Logistics — Long-term independent technology adviser
Ongoing independent work across infrastructure, networking, security, supplier issues, inherited environments, technology refresh and migration planning. The relationship combines practical intervention when needed with a longer-term view of how the technology environment should develop.
Vehicle Leasing Industry — Cloud & Datacentre Transformation
Turned an organisation's intention to become cloud-first into a financially modelled, architected, governed and executable transformation programme.
Outcome
The financial work identified approximately £2.7m of five-year savings and avoided an approximately £1.6m hardware refresh. The engagement continued for around 19 months, moving from discovery and strategy into execution and operational handover.
Web Platforms for Asset & Wealth Managers — Global Hybrid Infrastructure Transformation
Reduced cost and complexity across a substantial global hybrid estate while progressively moving away from legacy managed datacentres toward cloud and modernised services.
Outcome
Contemporary reporting shows recurring infrastructure run-rate reducing from approximately $172k per month to approximately $100k per month, a reduction of around 42%, while the estate was simplified and modernised.
Working with Nakatomi
Senior perspective. Human approach
Nakatomi brings calm, experienced technology leadership to complex situations: establish the current position, make the choices clear and turn agreed direction into practical delivery.
Clients work directly with Robert Cockerill alongside leadership, internal teams and suppliers. Nakatomi connects board direction to technical and operational reality, keeping cost, risk, resilience and service visible as people move together.
Approach
From clarity to delivery
Nakatomi builds one joined-up view of the organisation and carries it through design, governance, delivery and operation. The map stays live, so service evidence and changing business direction shape the next decision instead of disappearing at handover.
Map reality. Make choices visible. Stay close to delivery
Build the map across
- People & ownership
- Operations
- Architecture
- Service
- Change & delivery
- Business direction
- 01
Discover & map
Identify owners, consumers and stakeholders. Speak to the people who run, use, change and govern the environment; trace systems, dependencies, documentation and the history behind them. Sometimes this is technology archaeology.
- 02
Assess & simplify
Test the map across operations, architecture, service and change. Find bottlenecks, duplication, over-complication, weak signal, poor observability and hidden risk.
- 03
Design & align
Treat compliance, legacy, finance, suppliers, organisation and history as design inputs. Connect board and leadership direction to architecture so today’s decisions support what the business needs next.
- 04
Plan & govern
Turn the target state into sequenced work, ownership, controls, decisions and measures. Use Agile, programme, project, BAU or a pragmatic blend to fit the environment.
- 05
Deliver & change
Stay close to implementation, technical decisions, change control, suppliers and service transition. Keep the map current, surface blockers early and make trade-offs visible.
- 06
Operate, measure & improve
Use incidents, service data, monitoring, capacity, user experience, cost and risk to test the outcome. Simplify where complexity destroys useful signal and feed learning into the next cycle.
The lifecycle stays live. Operational evidence, service experience and new business direction update the map and become input to the next round of decisions.
Throughout the lifecycle
Start by understanding. Make the choices clear. Stay connected to delivery. Owners, consumers, leadership, technical teams, service teams and suppliers stay in the same picture. Context, cost, risk and trade-offs stay visible; decisions remain traceable; knowledge stays with the client.
- Owners + consumers heard
- Board to service desk
- Direct & plain-speaking
- Suppliers included
- Decisions traceable
- Knowledge documented
Capabilities
Capability for the challenge
01
Architecture
Understand the wider environment, bring the right people into the conversation, make the important trade-offs visible and create practical target states and transition paths teams can deliver and operate with confidence.
02
Delivery
Turn strategy into well-governed execution by aligning internal teams, suppliers, dependencies and decisions around a clear outcome.
03
Advisory
Provide independent senior advice on technology strategy, investment, suppliers and risk, helping leadership teams make informed decisions with confidence.
04
Operational improvement
Improve reliability, resilience, ownership, service models and cost while helping teams build a more predictable and supportable operating environment.
Across industries
Different sectors. Shared challenges
The sectors differ; the requirement does not: technology decisions made in the context of people, operations, risk and commercial priorities, not architecture alone.
- Asset Management
- Manufacturing
- Wireless Operators
- Education
- Insurance
- Publishing
- Construction
- Travel
- Financial Services
- Retail
- Transport & Haulage
- Life Sciences & Research
- Advertising & Marketing
- Local Authority
- Vehicle Fleet Management & Leasing
- Agency
About Robert Cockerill
Technical depth. Practical leadership
More than two decades across strategy, architecture, infrastructure, cloud, security, suppliers, delivery leadership and operational improvement. Robert combines technical depth with a straightforward, people-focused approach, helping leadership teams understand the choices in front of them and helping delivery teams turn those choices into workable outcomes.
View Robert on LinkedInTerms & resources
Clear terms. Visible versions
Approved public terms, agreements and practical resources are published with explicit versions and effective dates for straightforward client and supplier reference.
View terms & resourcesStart with a conversation
Let's make the next move clear
A first conversation can help bring the challenge into focus, explore where Nakatomi could add value and identify a sensible next step, without turning the discussion into a sales process.