For Buyers
Better buying starts with shared intelligence.
CommonSource helps you understand your challenges, discover organisations facing similar needs, and learn from the approaches they have taken. Go to market with clearer requirements, stronger evidence and opportunities to combine demand.
Learn from others. Keep your options open. Buy better together.
Opens your email app
Illustrative example, not live buyer demand
Reducing reactive maintenance in social housing
Shared challenge intelligence
- Related demand signals Potential match
- Similar maintenance needs could indicate relevant housing peers.
- Available evidence Needs confirmation
- Review published or shared lessons from previous approaches. Outcomes need assessment.
- Collaboration opportunities Potential match
- Shared market engagement or a coordinated pilot could be explored.
- Next step Needs confirmation
- Confirm scope, interest, timing and intent before progressing.
More confidence before you commit.
For public-sector procurement, innovation and service teams, including public bodies and housing providers.
Learn from buyers facing the same challenge.
Find relevant peers and review approaches, procurement precedents and lessons where information has been published or shared. Buying activity is not, on its own, evidence of success.
Unlock collective purchasing power.
Identify compatible needs and purchasing timelines, then explore combining demand for better prices, terms or shared delivery costs. Savings depend on scope, participation and the procurement route.
Define better procurements with less duplicated work.
Turn a broad problem into clearer outcomes, requirements and evaluation questions, informed by relevant precedents and market engagement.
Keep your supplier options open.
Explore alternative approaches and consider interoperability, portability and exit requirements earlier. Supplier discovery alone does not eliminate lock-in.
Share the cost and risk of trying something new.
Find opportunities for shared research, market engagement and coordinated pilots, with agreed evaluation criteria.
Build a stronger case for investment.
Bring challenge evidence, available peer experience, options and potential collaboration benefits into a clearer internal business case.
Make your needs visible to the market.
A clearer picture of shared demand helps buyers explain what is missing and engage suppliers around better solutions.
Our approach
Start with a shared problem, not a predetermined purchase.
You do not need to know which product to buy before finding useful peers. Start with the outcome you need, explore how others have approached it, and decide which parts you could tackle together.
- 01
Understand the challenge
Clarify the outcome, scope, constraints and timing.
- 02
Find relevant peers and evidence
Surface similar needs, comparable approaches and information that is available to share.
- 03
Confirm the opportunity
Validate shared needs and assess whether scope, timing and readiness align.
- 04
Choose your next step
Learn independently, collaborate on research or pilots, or explore a suitable procurement route.
Learn together without having to buy together.
Start with the level of collaboration that suits your team. You retain control of your requirements, decisions and procurement process.
Optional levels of collaboration, not compulsory steps.
Shared intelligence
Learn from relevant peers and available evidence.
Shared research and market engagement
Explore options and questions with other buyers.
Coordinated pilots
Test an approach with agreed evaluation criteria.
Collective procurement
Explore a suitable route where needs and timing align.
A related public signal is not a confirmed buyer. A shared challenge is not yet committed purchasing demand. Scope, interest, timing and intent need to be confirmed before a buying group progresses.
Illustrative scenario, not a case study or customer result
From isolated maintenance challenges to a shared opportunity.
Several housing providers want to reduce reactive maintenance. Rather than each starting a separate supplier search, they explore similar needs, review any available lessons from previous approaches and compare requirements.
Those with compatible scope and timing could share market engagement or a pilot. A joint purchase is one possible next step, not the assumed outcome.
Buyer questions
Clear answers before you start.
You do not have to solve and buy alone.
Talk to us about a challenge, an upcoming procurement or an area where you would benefit from learning with other buyers.
Opens your email app