Market shaping
A dynamic market offers great products that compete on UX and price not vendor lock-in
Market shaping is an operating pattern where the NHS actively cultivates a competitive supplier ecosystem that serves the health system’s interests rather than vendor interests. Instead of accepting a marketplace dominated by monolithic systems, proprietary data formats, and contracts that lock organisations into expensive, inflexible relationships, this pattern uses standards, regulation and strategic investment to create conditions where suppliers compete on genuine value such as better user experience, lower prices and superior functionality, rather than on their ability to make switching costly or impossible.
The mechanisms works through a combination of levers: mandating interoperability and data standards so that different products can work together seamlessly; investing in public or open-source alternatives that demonstrate what’s possible and apply competitive pressure; establishing design standards and tooling that makes it easier for suppliers to do the right thing than to build proprietary silos; and using procurement expertise to favour modular, replaceable components over all-encompassing systems. Over time, this shifts the market away from monoliths to “small parts loosely joined” - a landscape of specialised tools that connect cleanly, giving organisations genuine choice.
NHS examples
- RAVS
- MAVIS
- ELiD
Non-NHS examples
- Local Digital Fund
- Open Digital Planning