Cisco
Restructuring Enterprise Commerce at Platform Scale
Cisco Commerce Workspace is Cisco’s global Partner-facing B2B commerce platform supporting quoting, configuration, ordering, renewals, and subscriptions. Over time, it evolved into a fragmented ecosystem spanning 7 independently operated product teams.
As Lead Product Designer for the Partner-facing commerce experience, I owned design strategy, roadmap prioritization, and executive alignment. My mandate was to restructure the platform architecture, reduce workflow complexity, and improve deal velocity across a global partner ecosystem.
Project Snapshot
Role Lead Designer and Project Manager
Timeline 8 Years
Users Cisco partners, distributors, and internal sales teams
Scope 7 product teams unified under shared architecture
Outcome 3x faster deal cycles, 5x more quotes submitted, 95% increase in partner productivity
Scale 200+ features shipped, unified design system adopted org-wide
CCW had evolved through years of parallel development. Each product team optimized for its own module, resulting in disconnected workflows across estimate, quote, configure, and order.
Partners moved between tools to complete a single transaction. Data fields were duplicated across modules. Validation logic differed by product. Legacy workflows coexisted with modern services. Navigation patterns varied from team to team.
The issue was not visual inconsistency. It was structural fragmentation.
This fragmentation increased cognitive load, slowed deal progression, elevated support tickets, and reduced partner confidence in the platform.
Previous CCW
“
CCW tool is like a Jackson Pollock painting.
- a User Feedback
What We Had to Solve
My objective was to transform CCW from a collection of independent tools into a unified commerce platform.
Specifically, I was responsible for:
Defining a shared interaction model across modules
Standardizing validation logic and information architecture
Phasing out legacy workflows
Reducing redundant data entry
Introducing role-based experiences for 4 partner personas
Aligning cross-functional leadership and VP-level stakeholders
Prioritizing roadmap initiatives tied to measurable business impact
This required systems-level thinking across 7 product teams.
How Might We
Simplify the B2B journey without losing enterprise depth?
How Might We
Win our partner's trust through clarity and consistency?
How Might We
Solve today’s pain points while anticipating future needs?
How We Tackled It
Platform Restructuring
I reframed CCW as a single commerce system rather than separate modules. I defined a unified interaction model that established consistent navigation, page structure, and task progression across estimate, quote, configure, and order workflows.
We reduced the number of steps across all seven modules and consolidated duplicate data entry fields. Progressive disclosure was introduced to maintain enterprise depth while reducing unnecessary friction.
Legacy workflows that no longer aligned with the future platform direction were phased out to simplify architecture and eliminate redundant logic.
Previous CPQ Process for Partner
Current CPQ Process for Partner
Validation and Data Standardization
In close collaboration with engineering, I aligned UI states with backend validation rules to ensure consistent behavior across products.
We defined required versus optional fields at a system level rather than module level. I identified mismatches between UI states and API responses during staging and QA cycles, ensuring that architectural decisions translated accurately into production.
This reduced error rates and lowered support ticket volume after rollout.
Achieving consistency across platform with design system
Simplifying table data with new design system
Role-Based Workflow Design
Through research and workflow analysis, I identified four core partner roles interacting with CCW. Instead of a one-size-fits-all experience, I led the creation of role-based flows that surfaced relevant actions and suppressed irrelevant complexity.
This reduced cognitive switching and allowed partners to move through deals faster while retaining necessary configuration depth.
Personas after interview sessions with our Users: Partners, Distributors, and Internal teams
Design System Governance and Scale
To support consistency across 7 product teams, I led adoption of a shared design system. This standardized components, form behaviors, and feedback states across the commerce ecosystem.
Over 200 features were delivered on top of this unified foundation. Design to development cycles improved by 30 percent as engineering teams reduced redundant implementation.
CCW Design System
The Outcome
The restructuring delivered measurable business impact:
3x
Faster Deal Completion
Which Speed up Cisco’s Sales
5x
Increase in Quote Submissions
and They’re More Accurate with Fewer Mistakes
95%
Boost in Productivity
as support tickets dropped and workflows got easier
200+
Features Shipped
on Top of a Scalable Design System Now Adopted Org-wide
Beyond metrics, partners regained trust in CCW as a reliable commerce platform aligned with Cisco’s long-term subscription and SaaS strategy.
What I Learned
This project reinforced that enterprise design leadership is not about polishing interfaces. It is about restructuring systems.
The most impactful decisions were architectural, not visual. By consolidating workflows, standardizing validation logic, and aligning cross-team governance, we transformed CCW from fragmented tools into a scalable commerce platform.
Leading this initiative required product strategy, technical fluency, and executive alignment. It shaped how I approach complex systems today, focusing on structural clarity before surface refinement.
