Frequently Asked Questions

Zivni is a field sales execution platform built specifically for FMCG brands and distributors operating in emerging markets. The core problem it solves is visibility: most FMCG companies lose money because their sales reps, distributor teams, and retailer orders are scattered across WhatsApp, paper, and disconnected spreadsheets. Zivni pulls the whole field operation into one system — beat planning, GPS attendance, order capture, stock tracking, retailer relationships, and reporting. For a brand team, this means knowing in real time what's selling where, which reps are actually visiting retailers, and where stockouts are happening. For distributors, it means fewer manual order errors and faster settlement with brands. Zivni is designed for markets like Pakistan, GCC, and Africa where connectivity, language, and retail complexity make global tools a poor fit.

Both, and the platform is designed around the relationship between them. FMCG brands use Zivni to see what their distributors and retailers are actually doing in-market — which SKUs are moving, where execution is weak, and how promotional spend is translating into shelf presence. Distributors use Zivni to manage their own field teams, handle order processing, track retailer credit, and send consolidated reports up to brand principals. When a brand and its distributor network use Zivni together, the whole supply chain becomes visible in real time. That visibility is the product. You can start with just a distributor on the platform and bring brand principals in later, or start with a brand and onboard distributors as part of your rollout.

Bizom and FieldAssist are mature India-focused platforms with deep enterprise features and pricing to match — typically $15-30 per user per month with six-figure minimums. SAP is an ERP, not a field sales platform; it handles finance and inventory but not beat planning or shelf intelligence. Zivni sits between them deliberately. It's modern (built in the last two years, not a 2010-era codebase), modular (pay $5/user base plus optional modules instead of a giant bundle), and built for real emerging-market conditions including spotty connectivity, multi-language support, and WhatsApp integration. The trade-off: Zivni has fewer years of battle-testing than Bizom and a smaller customer base. For mid-sized distributors and brands who find Bizom too heavy, Zivni is a better fit. For large multinationals running SAP, Zivni complements it rather than replacing it.

Both. The field sales reps, supervisors, and van sales teams use the mobile app (iOS and Android) which works offline and syncs when connectivity is available. Managers, distributor admins, and brand HQ teams use the web dashboard for planning, reporting, and analytics. The two are the same system — a retailer visit logged on the mobile app shows up live on the web dashboard. There's also a retailer portal (web and mobile browser) for retailers to place their own orders, check credit, and see their account. All three interfaces share the same underlying data, so there's no import or sync lag between them. Mobile works fluidly on mid-range Android devices — typical for the field staff who use it daily.

Yes. Zivni supports multi-currency, multi-country operations natively. Each distributor or country unit can operate in its local currency (PKR, AED, USD, EGP, NGN, etc.) while brand HQ sees consolidated reporting in their reporting currency. Exchange rates are configurable — you can use a fixed rate, daily feeds, or manual adjustments depending on how your finance team works. Each country unit can also have different tax rules, SKU catalogs, and distributor hierarchies. This makes Zivni suitable for regional FMCG groups operating across Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and East African markets where regulatory and pricing realities differ country by country. For a single-country operation, the multi-country features don't get in the way — you simply operate in one currency and one market.

Zivni currently supports English, Urdu, and Arabic — with full right-to-left layout for Arabic. Language is set per user, not per country, so a single organization can have English-speaking brand managers, Urdu-speaking field reps in Pakistan, and Arabic-speaking distributors in the Gulf, all using the same system in their preferred language. The retailer portal also supports these languages, which matters for smaller shop owners who may not be comfortable in English. Additional language support (French for West Africa, Bahasa for Southeast Asia) is on the roadmap and can be prioritized if a customer commits to the platform. Voice order entry supports the same three languages today, powered by locally-tuned speech recognition.

A beat plan is the planned sequence of retailer visits for a sales rep on a given day or week. In Zivni, supervisors create beat plans at the territory level — assigning retailers to specific reps on specific days, with visit frequency based on retailer tier (platinum retailers visited twice a week, silver weekly, bronze fortnightly). The rep's mobile app shows them their beat for today with GPS-routed visit order. When they check in at a retailer, the visit is logged against the plan. Supervisors see a live dashboard of beat adherence — which reps are on track, which are skipping visits, and where gaps are building up. Beat plans adjust automatically for holidays, leaves, and territory reassignments. The goal is to convert beat planning from a paper exercise into a live operational system.

GPS attendance means every retailer check-in is stamped with the rep's location at the moment they clicked 'check in.' Zivni compares that location to the known GPS coordinates of the retailer shop. If the rep is within 100 meters, the check-in passes as valid. If they're 2 kilometers away, the system flags a suspicious visit for supervisor review. This eliminates the common 'I visited, sir' fake check-in problem where reps mark visits they never actually made. Zivni also detects GPS-spoofing apps (used by some reps trying to fake their location) and flags those automatically. For van sales, the vehicle's GPS track is recorded throughout the day, letting supervisors verify the entire route was covered. This is one of the features customers cite most often as driving ROI — by itself, it typically recovers 10-15% of wasted field time.

Yes, and this is a core design principle rather than an afterthought. In Pakistan, GCC, and African markets, reps regularly work in villages and outskirts where 4G is unreliable. Zivni's mobile app is built offline-first: reps can log visits, capture orders, mark attendance, and update retailer data with no connectivity. All data is stored locally on the device and syncs automatically when the rep returns to signal. The sync is conflict-aware — if the same order was somehow entered twice, the system flags it for review rather than creating duplicates. Offline mode supports all core features except real-time dashboards. Reps don't need to think about connectivity at all; they work normally and the system handles sync in the background.

Voice order entry lets a field rep speak an order in Urdu, Arabic, or English rather than tap through a menu. The rep says something like 'Retailer Shop, 2 cartons of 500ml Coke, 1 carton 1-liter Fanta,' and the app transcribes it, matches SKUs, and creates a draft order for the rep to confirm before submission. This matters in two situations: retailers shouting multiple items at once in a busy shop where tapping is slow, and reps who aren't fully literate in English and struggle with menu navigation. Voice isn't perfect — it works best when rep speaks clearly and uses consistent SKU names — but it's fast and dramatically reduces order entry time from 2-3 minutes to 15-20 seconds per order. The transcription happens on-device where possible for privacy.

When a rep visits a retailer, they take a photo of the shelf where the brand's products are displayed. Zivni's AI automatically analyzes that photo to count how many facings each SKU has, detect competitor products, identify out-of-stock gaps, and score the shelf against the brand's planogram (the ideal shelf layout). Instead of relying on the rep's subjective judgment or manual counting, the system produces consistent data across thousands of stores. Brand teams use this to spot execution gaps in real time — for example, noticing that Karachi region has 40% planogram compliance vs 85% in Lahore. It also detects when a retailer has stopped stocking your brand entirely. The AI works with mid-range smartphone camera quality; no special hardware needed.

Yes. Each morning, Zivni generates a personalized brief for each sales rep showing what matters for their day — which retailers to prioritize based on order frequency and value, which SKUs have promotions running, which retailers missed their last expected order, and which are close to their credit limit. The brief is a one-page summary the rep reads in 30 seconds before starting their beat. For supervisors, a parallel brief shows team performance yesterday, reps behind on visits, and suggested coaching focus. The intent is to replace generic morning meetings with data-driven specific priorities. Written in the rep's preferred language. This is an optional module; customers can turn it off if they prefer a simpler workflow.

Yes. The retailer portal lets shop owners place their own orders directly into the system — through a web browser, mobile browser, or WhatsApp bot — without waiting for a rep to visit. They see their personal price list (based on their tier and any active promotions), current credit balance, recent order history, and can re-order previous purchases with two taps. When a retailer self-orders, the distributor's fulfillment team picks it up the same way they would a rep-captured order; the rep still earns their commission because the retailer is in their beat. This approach particularly helps during Ramadan, rainy seasons, or areas where rep visit frequency is low. Retailers typically adopt the portal within 2-3 weeks once they see the order confirmation speed.

Retailers can message the distributor's WhatsApp Business number to place orders in plain language ('send 5 cases of biscuits'). The bot, powered by Claude API behind the scenes, parses the message, matches SKUs against the retailer's price list, confirms the order with the retailer via WhatsApp reply, and pushes it directly into Zivni for fulfillment. If the message is ambiguous, the bot asks clarifying questions in the retailer's language. This works because many small retailers are comfortable on WhatsApp but never log into apps or portals. The bot also pushes proactive messages — low stock alerts, promotion announcements, payment reminders — keeping the retailer engaged between rep visits. All conversations are logged in Zivni for the supervisor to review.

Yes. All three languages are fully supported, and Arabic includes proper right-to-left layout throughout — not just text direction, but mirrored UI elements, correct icon positioning, and right-aligned navigation. This matters because half-implemented RTL (where text is right-aligned but the layout is still LTR) creates a confusing experience for Arabic users. Zivni's Arabic interface was tested with native Arabic-speaking users in GCC markets before release. Urdu uses Nastaliq-style fonts where appropriate and supports both typed and voice input. Users can switch languages from their profile without losing data or context. New languages (French, Hausa, Swahili for African markets) are on the roadmap and typically take 4-6 weeks to add once a customer commits.

Route optimization means Zivni calculates the most efficient sequence to visit the day's planned retailers, accounting for their locations, traffic patterns, and visit priorities. Instead of a rep driving in circles or following the same random order every day, they get a suggested route that minimizes total distance and time. The system uses the retailer coordinates from your beat plan plus live traffic data where available. A rep can accept the suggested route or override it based on local knowledge — sometimes there's a reason to visit one shop first. Over a week, reps typically save 30-45 minutes of travel time per day, which translates to 2-3 extra retailer visits. The feature is especially valuable in congested cities like Karachi and Lahore where route matters more than in smaller towns.

The base price is $5 per user per month, billed monthly or annually. 'User' means any person who logs into Zivni — field reps, supervisors, distributor admins, brand managers. The base covers core features: beat planning, GPS attendance, order capture, basic reporting, and retailer management. Optional modules (AI shelf photo analysis, voice order entry, WhatsApp bot, AI daily briefs, advanced analytics) are priced separately per user per month. A typical mid-sized distributor with 50 users ends up paying $5-12 per user depending on which modules they choose. Annual contracts get 15% off. For context: Bizom starts around $15 per user and FieldAssist around $12. We priced Zivni to be accessible to distributors who couldn't justify the enterprise-tier tools.

Base $5: all core field operations. Beat planning, retailer management, GPS check-in, order entry (tap-based), stock visibility, attendance, supervisor dashboards, standard reporting, mobile app (iOS + Android), web dashboard, retailer portal (basic), English/Urdu/Arabic support, offline sync. Extra-cost modules: AI shelf photo analysis ($3/user/month), voice order entry ($2), WhatsApp order bot ($2), AI daily briefs ($2), advanced analytics and custom reports ($3), route optimization ($1), gamification for reps ($1). Integrations with ERP/accounting tools (Tally, QuickBooks, SAP) are typically one-time setup fees starting around $500 depending on complexity. This modular approach lets you start lean and add capabilities once you've proven the base system works.

Instead of paying for a big bundled platform where you use 40% of the features, Zivni lets you turn modules on or off per user. Pay for only what you use. You can also enable different modules for different user groups — for example, enabling AI shelf photo analysis only for senior supervisors who review execution, while keeping junior reps on the base tier. Billing is prorated; if you add a module mid-month, you pay for the days used. You can remove a module anytime and the charge stops from the next billing cycle. This flexibility matters for growing businesses who want to pilot features before scaling. Most customers start with just the base tier, add voice entry and WhatsApp bot within 3 months, then add AI modules once they have the data maturity to use them.

Yes — 10 users minimum. Below that, the overhead of onboarding, training, and support doesn't work economically for either side. For smaller teams (under 10 reps), we often recommend waiting until your field team grows or using a simpler tool for now. If you have 10+ users and a clear field operation, Zivni works well. The upper limit is flexible — Zivni has been tested with single customer deployments up to 800 users, and the architecture supports more. Multi-entity groups (one brand with several distributors across countries) are structured as a single Zivni account with multiple organizations inside, each with their own user minimums. No minimum contract length at 10 users — you can cancel with 30 days notice.

For a mid-sized distributor (30-80 users, single country), full implementation takes 3-4 weeks. Week 1: data import (retailer master, SKU catalog, price lists, beat assignments) and system configuration. Week 2: rep training, supervisor training, and distributor admin training — usually in-person or hybrid. Week 3: pilot with one territory or one distributor to iron out issues. Week 4: full rollout. For enterprise deployments with multiple brands, multiple countries, or custom integrations, implementation typically takes 8-12 weeks. We assign a dedicated implementation manager for the full duration. The biggest time sink is usually getting clean retailer master data; most distributors don't have this centralized, and Zivni's rollout often forces that cleanup as a side benefit.

Yes, and training is included in implementation at no extra cost. For field reps, training runs 2-3 hours, split into morning app basics and afternoon practice with real retailer visits. We send trainers on-site for larger deployments; for smaller teams, we use Zoom plus WhatsApp video walkthroughs. Supervisor training runs half a day and covers beat planning, team performance dashboards, and how to review attendance and order data. Distributor admin training runs a full day and covers user management, SKU and price list maintenance, and reporting. Post-training, we provide video tutorials in English and Urdu, a support WhatsApp group for the first 30 days, and on-demand refresher sessions as needed. Training for new joiners after go-live is available as an ongoing support service.

Yes. We handle data migration as part of implementation. The typical data sources are Excel sheets, Tally exports, or existing DMS/CRM systems. We need retailer master data (name, address, GPS coordinates if available, beat assignment), SKU catalog (SKU code, name, pack size, price), beat plans (which reps visit which retailers), and opening stock and credit balances if applicable. If your existing data is messy — duplicate retailers, inconsistent naming — we clean it during migration with your team's input. For established systems like Bizom or FieldAssist, we can often export directly using their standard reports. Historical transaction data (past orders) can be imported for reporting continuity, but we usually recommend starting fresh from go-live and archiving the old data separately.

Yes. Tally integration is the most common in Pakistan and India — orders flow from Zivni to Tally for invoicing, payments flow from Tally back to Zivni for retailer credit updates. QuickBooks integration works similarly, common for customers in GCC and international deployments. SAP integration is available for enterprise customers but requires custom setup — typically 4-6 weeks and starts around $3,000 in setup fees. We also have native connectors for Sage, Xero, and Odoo. For custom or legacy accounting systems, we provide a REST API and can build custom integrations starting around $2,000 depending on complexity. Integration keeps data consistent between field operations and finance without manual re-entry, which is often the biggest source of errors in FMCG distribution.

Zivni runs on Supabase infrastructure with primary hosting in Singapore (for Asian and Middle Eastern customers) and optional EU hosting for GDPR-sensitive deployments. Database is PostgreSQL with row-level security enforced at the database layer. All data in transit uses TLS 1.3. Passwords are hashed with bcrypt. Sensitive fields like retailer financial data are additionally encrypted at rest. Daily automated backups are retained for 30 days; weekly backups retained for a year. Access controls let you enforce role-based permissions (what each user can see) and geographic restrictions (limiting login by IP range if needed). We don't have third-party data sharing agreements — your operational data stays yours. Full data privacy documentation is available on request for compliance teams.

You own it. The contract explicitly states that all data you put into Zivni — retailer information, order history, sales performance, analytics derived from your data — remains your property. Zivni has a license to process that data for the purpose of providing the service, and that license ends when your contract ends. We never sell or share customer data with third parties, use it to train models for other customers, or combine it with data from other companies. If you terminate, you can export all your data in standard formats (CSV, JSON) and we delete your tenant from our systems within 30 days of termination. The only data we retain post-termination is aggregated and anonymized usage statistics, which are standard for any SaaS product.

Yes, anytime during the contract or at termination. Self-service export is available from the web dashboard — retailers, orders, reps, attendance, SKUs, analytics — downloadable as CSV or JSON. For bulk migration to another system, we provide a full data dump including any custom fields and historical records. There's no charge for data export, no waiting period, and no artificial format restrictions. At contract termination, you have 60 days to complete any data extraction before your tenant is deleted. We've seen customers occasionally explore Zivni, then switch to another tool, then come back a year later — and in those cases, your historical data isn't held hostage. Data portability is table stakes and we treat it that way.

99.5% uptime on the standard plan, 99.9% on the enterprise plan, measured monthly. At 99.5%, that's about 3.5 hours of allowed downtime per month; at 99.9%, about 45 minutes. Uptime excludes scheduled maintenance (announced at least 72 hours ahead) and force majeure events like cloud provider outages. If we breach SLA, you get service credits proportional to the breach applied to your next invoice. Our actual uptime over the past year has been 99.87% (better than the 99.5% commitment). Mobile app functionality continues even during brief web dashboard outages because the app is offline-capable. For mission-critical peak days (end-of-month, promotion launches), enterprise customers can request dedicated capacity to reduce any risk of load-related slowness.

Response times depend on severity and your plan. Standard plan: critical issues (system down, can't place orders) within 2 hours during business hours (9 AM to 7 PM PKT), non-critical within 1 business day. Enterprise plan: critical issues within 30 minutes, 24/7, with an escalation phone line. We provide support in English and Urdu, with Arabic support for GCC customers. The first 90 days after go-live include priority response regardless of plan — we know that's when issues surface most often. Support channels: email (support@zivni.com), in-app chat, WhatsApp group during onboarding, and phone escalation for enterprise. Self-service: documentation, video tutorials, and a knowledge base. Average resolution time for critical issues over the past 6 months: 47 minutes. Non-critical: 11 hours.

Weekly for minor improvements and bug fixes. Monthly for feature releases. Quarterly for major platform updates. Our release schedule is published on the website and in-product — customers always know what's coming. Mobile app updates go through Google Play and App Store on a staggered rollout to avoid surprising users during peak sales days. Customers can opt into beta access to new features before general availability. We maintain an active product roadmap based on customer feedback — the top-voted requests from distributor customers in the past 6 months directly shaped our last three releases. Legacy features are never removed without at least 6 months notice and a migration path. Breaking changes to the API carry 12 months notice.