GDSN Data Excellence Board of Directors Meeting - Brussels, Belgium

At the end of February, I had the opportunity to attend the GDSN Data Excellence Board of Directors meeting in Brussels, Belgium which was part of the GS1 2018 Global Forum.  The Board of Directors was expanded this year with the addition of 5 new data pools, 3 Commercial and 2 GS1 Member owned.

Growth of the Network

While at the Board of Directors meeting, we were advised that the GDSN had just surpassed 26 million GTINs registered. A sustained growth of over 10% per year.  More and more manufacturers and brand owners are realizing that only the GDSN can deliver the single source of trusted data to local and global retailers and other demand parties.

We were also advised that 4 new data pools received certification, so there are now 40 Certified Data pools around the globe now including Iceland.  For more details: https://www.gs1.org/services/gdsn/certified-data-pools

There were over 800 attendees at this Global Forum conference from over 80 countries – more countries participating than at the recent Winter Olympics.

GS1 Cloud

Of the many topics presented at the conference, the predominant one was the GS1 Cloud.  Finally existing in a near ready condition, the GS1 Cloud is the culmination of a few years of effort to provide GDSN Brand Owners with the tool needed to help them sell globally, regardless of their size or financial ability to reach potential global customers.

Commport will provide additional news on this brand new tool in the very near future, but suffice it to say, it really adds value to your participation in the GDSN.

For more on the Global Forum: https://www.gs1.org/events/487/gs1-global-forum-2018