2025 in review: How Bludot CRM removed friction from BR&E work
- Matt Moloney
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Economic development teams don’t struggle because they lack effort.They struggle because their tools weren’t built for the way BR&E actually works.
In 2025, the Bludot CRM updates focused on one thing: helping economic developers spend less time managing systems and more time supporting businesses — with data they can trust and outcomes they can prove.
Below is a high-level look at the improvements that matter most for teams evaluating a modern economic development CRM.
From disconnected forms to real, usable business data in the Bludot CRM
Most BR&E programs break down at intake. Surveys live in one place. Notes live in another. Business profiles never quite reflect reality.
In 2025, Bludot closed that gap.
Surveys and custom forms can now update business records automatically
Submissions can create projects, update profiles, or both, without manual cleanup
Contact information, DBA names, and operational status can flow directly into the CRM
What this means: Every response strengthens your business database instead of creating more cleanup work.
Projects and tasks that support real economic development work
Economic development work isn’t linear — and generic CRMs treat it like it is.
Bludot’s 2025 updates focused on making projects and tasks usable for real BR&E workflows:
Project templates to standardize repeat work (expansions, intakes, incentives)
Recurring tasks so follow-ups don’t rely on memory
A redesigned All Tasks view so teams can see what’s due across businesses and projects in one place
What this means: Your CRM becomes an operating system for your work, not just a place to store notes.
Cleaner records and clearer business relationships
As communities grow, spreadsheets and generic CRMs fall apart under duplicate records and unclear ownership structures.
In 2025, Bludot added tools specifically for economic development realities:
Smart business and contact matching to reduce duplicates
Parent–child business relationships to track franchises, multi-location companies, and corporate ownership
Clear visibility into how businesses are connected — without external spreadsheets
What this means: You finally understand your business base at a structural level, not just a contact level.
Reporting that proves impact without rebuilding everything
Leadership doesn’t want activity logs — they want clarity.
Bludot’s CRM updates focused on making reporting easier and more defensible:
Activity tagging to show where staff time is actually spent
Cleaner exports that include business details, contacts, and custom fields
Improved licensing reporting for communities that track compliance or renewals
What this means: You can explain your work clearly — without exporting data and rebuilding reports every time.
Outreach that scales without losing the personal touch
Economic development teams send a lot of the same emails — and rewriting them every time wastes valuable hours.
In 2025, Bludot added:
Email personalization using real business and contact data
Reusable email templates for surveys, check-ins, and program outreach
What this means: Your team communicates consistently, professionally, and at scale — without sounding automated.
Why this matters for teams evaluating a CRM in 2026
Bludot’s 2025 CRM updates weren’t about adding features. They were about removing friction from the work economic developers already do.
If your team is still relying on spreadsheets, a heavily customized Salesforce instance, or a generic CRM that doesn’t understand BR&E, this is what a purpose-built alternative looks like.
A CRM that:
reflects how economic development actually works
strengthens your business data over time
supports execution, not just recordkeeping
helps you prove value clearly
That’s what Bludot spent 2025 building. Schedule a demo to see it in action.