These are the questions organizations ask most often about BRE Pulse, the business retention and expansion software for townships, cities, counties, chambers and economic development organizations. Each answer links to the page that says it in full.
Buying and pricing
BRE Pulse is one product, priced by how many businesses you track, with unlimited users for your organization. There are no tiers to choose between, and the prices are published and set in one place.
Government buyers pay by card or by invoice and purchase order. Order by purchase order and invoice, with no card charge and no automatic renewal. A multi-year term commits nothing beyond your current fiscal year: every year is subject to your own appropriation, and you can fund out. We can align your first term to your fiscal year end so renewal and appropriation fall together from then on. Procurement rules differ between organizations and must always be checked with whoever handles purchasing.
Setup and your data
Setup is five steps, about a day's work. Upload what you already have — business licenses, assessment exports, chamber lists and your spreadsheet — and BRE Pulse matches and de-duplicates them into one canonical record per business, with contacts and locations. Conflicts between sources go to you, never silently overwritten.
Businesses and the check-in
The Business Check-in takes two to five minutes. A business confirms its profile, reports its outlook and plans, says what would help, asks a confidential question, and chooses who may see its answers. There is no login and no email required: you share the link, print a QR code, or point businesses to your organization's public check-in page.
Ally, the BRE assistant
Ally is the assistant built into BRE Pulse. She prepares you before a meeting and offers suggestions with their evidence. Nothing Ally writes changes a record until a person approves it, and she is an AI assistant and says so.
Confidentiality and security
Businesses control visibility: organization staff, a named project team, or the program administrator only. Authorization is enforced on the server for every request, never only in the interface. Two-step sign-in, sign-in history, session control and a full audit log are part of every subscription. The security page explains each of these.
Reporting to your board
Jobs and investment are tracked as proposed, committed and completed. Program scores, a monthly scorecard, dashboards you can click through to the record, and monthly, quarterly, annual and board reports come out as PDF, Word, Excel or CSV.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does BRE Pulse cost?
- It is priced by the number of businesses in your service area, with unlimited users in your organization. The current prices for every size are on the pricing page.
- Can a township pay by purchase order?
- Yes. Order by purchase order and invoice, with no card charge and no automatic renewal. Your own procurement rules must always be checked. See ordering by invoice or PO.
- Is there a money-back guarantee?
- Yes: your money back within 90 days, less a 5% processing and setup fee. Setup is five steps; finish it within 30 days and the clock starts there. The pricing page and the terms state it in full.
- Do businesses need an account to answer the check-in?
- No. The Business Check-in has no login and no email required: share the link, print a QR code, or use your public check-in page.
- Can a business keep its answers confidential?
- Yes. A business chooses who may see its check-in: organization staff, a named project team, or the program administrator only.
- Does the assistant change our records?
- No. Nothing Ally writes changes a record until a person approves it.
- Does everyone in our organization see the same thing?
- Organization owners and admins manage who sees what, and business records marked confidential stay with the people allowed to see them.
- How do we get help?
- Through the support button in the app; every request keeps its status. The support page explains the response commitments.
Related
See BRE Pulse working
Walk through a demonstration township with your own questions: the business records, a visit, the follow-up list and a board report.
