News Release

M1 SOFTWARE BY BOWEN & GROVES WINS 2004 CONSENSUS AWARD

M1 by B&G™ has won a 2004 Consensus Software Award recognising excellence in software development. At the presentation in Sydney were (from left) The Hon Daryl Williams, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Aleta Kane, International Sales & Marketing Manager and Geoff Groves, CEO of Bowen & Groves with Steve Vamos, Managing Director, Microsoft.

M1 by B&G™ is an Enterprise Resource Planning software system uniquely suited to the needs of small to medium manufacturing businesses.

The software developed by Bowen & Groves has just won a 2004 Consensus Award which recognizes excellence in software design.

The Judges concluded that "M1 has re-defined the definition of 'user friendly' with a product that demonstrates a substantial commitment to its growing number of users in Australia and other major centres of manufacturing in the world. It is a simple and effective means for small and large manufacturers to control their business processes without fuss."

The independently judged Consensus Awards, with Microsoft as the principal sponsor, are supported by numerous government and industry bodies and are designed to reward software developers who have demonstrated excellence in innovation, performance and potential.

Founded in 1992 Bowen & Groves is a privately owned software development company operating in the United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

M1 by B&G™ provides total integration and automation from quoting through to invoicing and unlike other systems allows the manufacturer to simply and easily customize the system to suit their unique business processes to maintain their competitive advantage.

The software has been developed in Microsoft Visual Basic for a Microsoft SQL server with a Microsoft Outlook look and feel.

It is an intuitive and user friendly system packed with innovative and powerful tools.

The origins of M1 by B&G™ developed from the original career of CEO Geoff Groves a manufacturing and engineering professional.

"This proved to me that existing ERP systems on offer were not flexible enough to meet the needs of small to medium manufacturers, we focused the design of the system on delivering a system where the user can be more efficient and productive, and this is achieved by focusing the depth of functionality on the simplest tasks, whereas other systems take the most amount of time for simple and routine functions.

"The international market is where our growth has come from and we see it continuing as business owners and managers recognise the importance of professionally managing their businesses" Groves added.

M1 by B&G™ enables businesses to benefit without changing any of their existing business processes.

The software system has been designed so there is no long drawn out implementation cycle; the implementation tools coupled with an intuitive and familiar look and feel means that the benefits of the software system can be enjoyed within weeks.

A key advantage is that M1 by B&G™ is a modular system, so that customers can purchase only the modules which meet their immediate requirements to suit their needs and then grow with additional systems and functionality as required.

A further benefit is software system flexibility is designed for sites where one person does all the administration and business management up to medium and larger sized operations where there is a departmental structure.

"In fact we find that often long term employees who are most resistant to new systems and especially computer software, often tell us just how easy and user friendly their commissioning experience has been" Geoff Groves said.

"Winning the Consensus Award is important to us as it recognizes M1 by B&G™ as a leading edge ERP system which is winning plaudits from customers internationally" Geoff Groves concluded.

Courtesy of the Australian Developer Magazine here is the letter from the Australian Prime Minister regarding the Consensus Software Awards.

Letter from the Prime Minister: 2004 Consensus Software Awards

About Bowen & Groves

Bowen & Groves is setting the standard in Enterprise Resource Planning software (ERP), for the small to medium manufacturer. Founded in 1992 Bowen & Groves is a privately owned software development company operating in the United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. M1 by B&G™ sets the standard in affordability and ease of use. Bowen & Groves can be reached at sales@bowen-groves.com or via their website, www.bowen-groves.com