Dashboards Technology Now Available To Small and Mid-Sized Businesses.

George S. May Customizes to Enhance Performance and Profits

PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- Small and mid-sized businesses can now take advantage of the same type of software used by Fortune 500 companies to display and monitor essential business activity and performance. The new Management Dashboards (www.gsmdashboards.com) technology from George S. May International Company differs from other dashboard software because it's specifically designed for use with QuickBooks[R] and other common databases typically used by smaller companies.

The new software can be customized to overlay computerized database information for virtually any type of business, including construction and manufacturing companies, health services, wholesalers, distributors, transportation firms, retailers and hospitality providers. A company's specific information is accessible by authorized users from anywhere there is Internet access.

May International, Park Ridge, Ill., is offering the new technology through a partnership with iDashboards, Troy, Mich., which introduced the management system to large companies several years ago. It is now recognized as the leader in enterprise dashboard software.

"Management Dashboards software provides business owners with the insight and understanding needed to make better and faster decisions by visually representing business data in real time," said Israel Kushnir, president of family-owned May International, which was founded in 1925. "We're excited to be partnering with the leader in this field to help small and mid-sized business owners take advantage of technology that's really only been available until now to very large companies."

While the dashboard concept was created initially to focus on financial metrics of sales, income, liabilities and profits, the Management Dashboards software from May International can display and track any type of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or data that a business can gather and place into a relational database.

Every business has certain crucial measures of business performance. KPIs may be developed to measure a company's general business activity, such as the number of items produced, sales made and orders filled. In addition, KPIs also may be used to track the activities of functional departments, such as sales and marketing, human resources and customer service.

May International consultants assist companies in establishing the KPIs to be displayed based on existing or new data a company wishes to start collecting. The Management Dashboards software is then programmed to convert the numerical data from a database into visual formats for display on computer screens. Management Dashboards also reads the key financial data most business users of QuickBooks already track, converting accounts receivable, assets and liabilities, net income, profitability and sales into tables, graphs and performance dials.

"We have found that two major obstacles stand in the way of business owners managing their companies more effectively," Kushnir said. "One is the difficulty in understanding the data they have. The second is difficulty in determining the cause-and-effect relationships among the different data. Management Dashboards helps business owners overcome these obstacles."

The most widely used financial and accounting software at small and mid-sized businesses is QuickBooks[R] from Intuit[R], Kushnir explained. Any company using QuickBooks can more quickly appreciate data and relationships by using Management Dashboards to convert rows and columns of numbers into illustrative tables, graphs and performance dials.

Business owners and executives also can use Management Dashboards to drill down to deeper layers of information or look at the same financial measures for the previous day, week, month, quarter, year or whatever timeframe is desired. By displaying historical and current information, Management Dashboards provides a user with the ability to see directions and trends developing in company finances and operations. This real-time knowledge allows business owners to take proactive measures to correct or improve financial performance.

Management Dashboards is available from May International through the Internet at www.gsmdashboards.com. For additional information and for an online demo, e-mail [e-mail] or call 847-993-5443.

About George S. May International Company

George S. May International Company is one of the first management consulting firms established in the United States. Since 1925, it has been helping business owners improve their operations, profits, efficiency and effectiveness. The company has offices in Park Ridge, Ill.; Montreal, Canada; and Mexico City, Mexico. For more information, please visit www.georgesmay.com.