A look back at the past year of the industry's favourite reference tool and a little of what's to come in 2024
Continuing the trend of recent years for the Marine Stores Guide (MSG), 2023 has seen further developments of digital products and services that have recently launched or are set to launch in early 2024; these developments respond directly to industry requests and our team's ongoing goal of delivering more and better ways to access MSG data and have it be a part of your working life for both purchasing and supplying roles.
A look back at 2023...
During this year, we have extensively developed our brand-new platform, which is an evolution of the currently available Marine Stores Guide Online Service (MSGO) that introduces several new features such as custom catalogues, more user control, improvements to useability and, most importantly of all, an offline version - a much-requested feature by ship operators.
We also created and launched an API to allow third-party users to access the MSG Data in the cloud with our token-based system; this replaces the need for uploading the MSG Data in Excel/CSV formats into purchasing software, and more, which offers security, ease of use and automatic updates whenever the latest MSG Data set is released! This new service is fully developed right now, and our team have started strategising how to roll out API access to new users, starting with critical stakeholders such as Data Resellers.
We released our latest MSG Data update, which featured hundreds of code amendments, removals and additions, keeping the data up to date for industry needs; this was made available to all Data Licence customers at no extra cost.
We also spent the entirety of 2023 developing the 8th edition of our MSG Book and Data! The creation of a new numbered MSG Data release and book is a significant undertaking that happens once every five years; it will feature a large number of adjustments to codes and, for the first time, highlight sustainable options that should be considered when purchasing for vessels that include replacements for single-use plastic items and more.
A look forward to 2024...
In 2024, we will continue with our roadmap to develop and deliver updates and tools to our customers and stakeholders that improve daily working practices for supplier and purchaser professionals.
The 8th edition MSG Book and Data will be released to the public, and the new books will be shipped worldwide.
Our new development will launch, allowing offline users on vessels and more to access the MSG on PC devices, use custom catalogues, create the base of orders, and much more.
We will launch the new www.marinestoresguide.com, a vastly overhauled website showcasing our distributors and resellers, offering a robust FAQ, the latest MSG news, and much more.
We will work with our stakeholders early in the year to bring our API to the industry and start improving how you can access and work with the data.
And, of course, we will bring more Data updates, products and services that keep the Marine Stores Guide as the industry's choice for marine-related purchase and supply tools.
For more information on the updates in this article, please refer to previous Supply Chain and Sustainability Magazine articles or head to www.marinestoresguide.com or, of course, contact our team at support@marinestoresguide.com.
