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Text-book Partnering

How Duck Creek Technologies successfully (and enjoyably) scaled their CPQ with pwFlexSupport.

Duck Creek Technologies partnered with Pierce Washington to upgrade their Salesforce CPQ. The two companies collaborated as one seamless team to unlock pricing innovation and greater selling opportunities. The results are  a replicable CPQ model for P&C Insurance success with external managed services.

 

The Backstory on Duck Creek Technologies

For 25 years, Duck Creek has led Insurtech innovation.  As a technology-first organization, it is known for its cloud-first design, enterprise-grade security, and scalability. Plus, an API architecture that empowers insurers to respond faster to market shifts while future-proofing their core systems. A leading provider of insurance automation software, their  SaaS platform powers operations for some of the largest property and casualty (P&C) insurance carriers in the world. Today, its core insurance platform, including policy administration, billing, claims, and rating, accelerates claims processing, boosts underwriting profitability, and empowers teams.

It’s no surprise that Duck Creek is growing. With 1,600+ employees, the team continues to expand its offerings and satisfied customer base. Ensuring their internal sales systems could scale with equal agility was a priority. This required enhancing their Salesforce CPQ environment in a way that maintains current requirements while positioning for future pricing strategies.

 

Talent Gaps and Increasing Pricing Complexity

Duck Creek’s growth was hampered by a variety of factors, including a Salesforce CPQ ecosystem that was highly customized; “Frankensteined” throughout years of rapid, iterative business needs. The departure of their in-house CPQ expert further complicated the situation, creating  a knowledge vacuum and inability to DIY the CPQ upgrade.

Cheryl Bradshaw, the company’s internal Salesforce and systems integration lead said she, “knew enough to be dangerous, but lacked the depth to manage complex CPQ developments alone.” 

At the same time, Duck Creek’s pricing model was evolving rapidly. Traditionally focused exclusively on large, tier-one and tier-two insurance carriers, Duck Creek was preparing to expand its footprint. This involved transitioning to a more agile and responsive pricing structure.

Enabling this modernization required implementing a new Salesforce CPQ price book. That’s a high-stakes initiative with strategic implications, especially for a shorthanded internal tech team. So, Duck Creek partnered with Pierce Washington for expertise and support.

 

pwFlexSupport is next-level managed services.  

Pierce Washington (PW) specializes in quote-to-cash (Q2C) solutions. They are a twenty-year CPQ veteran and SI (system integrator) as well as implementation partner for both Salesforce and Oracle. pwFlexSupport is made for companies that need ongoing CPQ support. The ultra-flexible service provides expert-level assistance for system maintenance, enhancement, training, and new feature rollouts. pwFlexSupport goes beyond outsourcing. It’s structured to be a perfect-fit extension of client teams.

 

 

Teamwork made this dream work.

As usual, PW deployed its secret weapon for CPQ success—teamwork. pwFlexSupport was rapidly deployed to support Duck Creek with a combination of CPQ expertise, collaborative consulting, and super responsive managed services. PW’s first major engagement centered on the remediation of existing pricing structures and the successful rollout of an entirely new price book. PW quickly became a trusted extension of Duck Creek’s internal team.

Cheryl’s comment on her company’s pwFlexSupport experience was, “We felt like one team. It wasn’t just Duck Creek and a partner. It was the Duck Creek team, full stop.” She went on to call out a few of the most appreciated aspects of the collaboration.

Rapid Response: PW’s consultants were particularly responsive and able to adapt to shifting priorities.

Seamless Communication: Frequent check-ins, clear options, and collaborative planning helped navigate and expedite tough decisions.

Flexible Resourcing: pwFlexSupport lived up to its name by allowing Duck Creek to easily scale support up or down as needed.

PW handled the build, noting that key to the project’s success was Duck Creek’s exceptional and timely provision of all business requirements. PW rolled with iterative changes along the way, keeping their delivery methodology flexible and adjusting course without ever losing momentum. The new pricing model was successfully deployed on time. The results unlocked new markets for Duck Creek and ignited a surge of team optimism.

 

Successful go-live wasn’t the end of this CPQ story.

pwFlexSuport provided extended hyper-care with robust training and documentation. They addressed one of Duck Creek’s key concerns—knowledge transfer and independence. With a heavily customized Salesforce CPQ instance, it’s critical that new team members fully understand the system and how to use it for maximum results. PW went above and beyond by recording training sessions, creating detailed system and data documentation, and helping onboard new technical resources.

 

Real results and visible value.

Duck Creeks reports the following upsides of CPQ implementation with pwFlexSupport.

  • Accelerated deployment timelines were met even when faced with aggressive internal deadlines.
  • Business continuity was maintained despite the departure of key internal CPQ resources.
  • Successful go-live of a new price book aligned with strategic expansion goals.
  • Tailored solution retained customized CPQ features, such as year-to-year ramping, complex pricing overrides, and flexible discount structures.
  • Streamlined onboarding of new team members via comprehensive documentation and training.
  • Internal team empowerment from pwFlexSupport collaboration that was so effective Duck Creek staff have pulled some of the work back in-house.

Without a bribe of donuts or anything else, Cheryl concluded, “I’m definitely a PW champion. The communication was fantastic, the work was top-notch, and we’re thrilled with the results.”

 

Transform your B2B’s revenue with CPQ and notch your own managed-services win with pwFlexSupport.

If your organization is facing Q2C challenges, increasing system complexity, talent gaps, or just wants to drive sales and revenue higher, pwFlexSupport can help. We’ll help you optimize, scale, and transform your quote-to-cash operations for greater performance.