Geraldine Chika Nwokocha is widely recognized as one of the most influential voices in the conversation about supply chain risk management and operational resilience. Over the last couple, she has built an impressive record of research, consulting, and thought leadership that links procurement strategy, enterprise risk, and data-driven planning. Trained in Industrial Management Engineering Technology and operations research, Geraldine began her career as a procurement and sourcing specialist before working on several projects that requires her intelligence in advising manufacturers and IT infrastructure managers on how to strengthen their supply chain processes. Her work has spanned the manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and technology sectors, giving her a panoramic view of how global value chains function — and where they break down.
“Too often, the focus is on transportation bottlenecks or supplier disruptions,” she explains. “Those are important, but there is another, quieter risk that can shut down a factory or disable a hospital system — the lifecycle of the equipment itself. If a critical device goes out of support with no replacement plan, you can lose days, weeks, or even months of productive time.”
This recognition led her to focus her latest research on a persistent blind spot in enterprise planning: lifecycle management of products and devices. Her work proposes a comprehensive, automated model for tracking End-of-Sales, End-of-Life, End-of-Service Life, and End-of-Warranty milestones. This model does not stop at simple monitoring but integrates manufacturer announcements, supplier notifications, warranty databases, and predictive algorithms into a single enterprise-wide dashboard. “The goal is to give organizations clear visibility,” Geraldine says, “to tell them exactly when a laptop fleet, server cluster, or diagnostic machine is reaching its last day of guaranteed support. With that information, they can prepare budgets, renegotiate maintenance contracts, and plan phased replacements before problems arise.”
She argues that lifecycle visibility is no longer optional. “This is not just about asset tracking,” she stresses. “Lifecycle visibility is a business continuity function. It protects revenue, compliance, and even public safety. When you find out too late that a core device has hit end-of-life, you are suddenly in emergency mode — paying rush fees, begging suppliers for inventory, and risking downtime that your customers will notice.”
Her model turns this reactive scramble into a controlled process. Instead of relying on spreadsheets and manual reminders scattered across departments, companies gain a dynamic system that generates alerts months in advance, coordinates procurement and IT teams, and aligns capital expenditure planning with operational needs. Geraldine explains that this foresight has multiple benefits. “It spreads costs over time, avoids budget shocks, and keeps production or service delivery steady. It also lets compliance and security teams demonstrate to regulators that they have a plan for staying within support windows.”
Her research is especially relevant to the United Kingdom, where recent years have exposed structural vulnerabilities in supply chains. Brexit-related customs delays, global semiconductor shortages, and surging cyberattacks have forced UK businesses to think more seriously about resilience. Geraldine is clear about what this means: “The UK must treat lifecycle risk as a national issue,” she argues. “Every unsupported server in a bank, every medical device running beyond warranty in a hospital, every obsolete industrial control system in energy infrastructure is a point of potential failure. Automating lifecycle tracking gives the country the chance to see these risks coming and take action before disruption hits.”
She is careful to highlight that this is as much a governance challenge as it is a technical one. “End-of-warranty is not just a financial milestone,” she explains. “It is a compliance milestone. Boards and auditors expect assurance that systems are secure and supported. Regulators want to know that critical infrastructure is not relying on unpatched, unsupported technology. Automated lifecycle tracking provides the evidence they need.”
Geraldine’s model is designed to integrate with existing ERP systems and IT service management tools, making it practical for organizations of all sizes. Predictive analytics draw on historical failure rates and supplier behavior to forecast when devices will need replacement or when vendors are likely to announce end-of-life. This allows even small and mid-sized companies to plan like large enterprises. “You do not have to be a multinational to benefit from lifecycle intelligence,” she says. “Any organization that uses IT assets, production machinery, or regulated equipment stands to gain.”
She is also vocal about the cultural shift required to make the system work. “Technology is only half the story,” Geraldine notes. “Organizations need a mindset of proactive planning. Procurement, IT, finance, and compliance must operate from the same data and coordinate their actions. It is about breaking down silos so that no team is surprised when support ends.”
Her recommendations extend to suppliers and original equipment manufacturers. She encourages greater transparency and partnership, arguing that open sharing of lifecycle data benefits both sides. “When suppliers share end-of-life schedules early and accurately, customers can plan transitions, and suppliers can secure demand for replacement products,” she explains. “This becomes a win-win — fewer emergency orders, smoother production planning, and stronger customer relationships.”
Geraldine also frames lifecycle automation as a strategic opportunity for the UK government. She believes that national policy should embed lifecycle tracking into procurement frameworks, infrastructure risk management, and digital transformation initiatives. “Government can take the lead by building shared data networks, standardizing lifecycle reporting formats, and pushing automated alerts to critical infrastructure operators,” she says. “This will help avoid last-minute, high-cost replacement campaigns that put public services at risk.”
Her research demonstrates measurable impact. In case studies, companies that implemented structured lifecycle tracking reduced unplanned downtime by double-digit percentages, negotiated more favorable maintenance contracts, and cut costs by avoiding emergency purchases. Geraldine argues that these results can be replicated across sectors if the model is widely adopted. “The data are clear,” she says. “When organizations know what is coming, they act smarter, spend less, and deliver better service to their customers.”
She sees the future of lifecycle management moving toward AI-driven intelligence that not only tracks timelines but also optimizes decisions.
“We can go beyond simply alerting managers,” she explains. “We can build systems that simulate different replacement strategies, evaluate cost trade-offs, and suggest supplier diversification plans to avoid over-reliance on a single vendor. That is where we need to go — from reactive maintenance to predictive planning.”
Geraldine views this as a competitiveness issue for the UK economy. “The countries that master lifecycle intelligence will have more resilient production, more reliable public services, and lower total cost of ownership for critical infrastructure,” she argues. “This is not just an operational improvement; it is an economic advantage.”
She concludes with a clear message: “Resilience is about foresight, not speed. The UK has the chance to lead by embedding automated lifecycle tracking into its corporate governance codes, public procurement policies, and infrastructure strategies. Every device that quietly slips past its support window is a risk point. We must move from hoping these risks are handled to guaranteeing that they are handled systematically. Automated lifecycle tracking gives the visibility, discipline, and confidence required to keep supply chains steady, infrastructure secure, and the economy strong.”
