How DesignLab Experience Brought Financial Control to a Creative Studio Operating Across Three Countries

Designlab Experience (DLE) is one of the Middle East's most acclaimed creative studios — a multidisciplinary team of architects, designers, engineers, and artists who create landmark immersive experiences for governments, luxury brands, and cultural institutions. From Layali Diriyah, which drew over 110,000 visitors in its debut season, to the Museum of the Future exhibition at the World Government Summit, DLE operates at the intersection of design, performance, and large-scale production. With offices in Dubai, Riyadh, and Beirut, and projects spanning the region and beyond, the studio had outgrown its financial infrastructure.

Three Offices, No Unified View

Managing three entities across three countries — each with its own currency, regulatory obligations, and financial activity — meant DLE's finance function was permanently fragmented. Consolidating performance across Dubai, Riyadh, and Beirut required manual effort that didn't scale with the studio's project volume or pace. Multi-currency project economics were difficult to track accurately, and fixed assets — the custom fabrication equipment, production infrastructure, and installations that underpin every project — had no structured management system.

With a KSA entity in active operation, ZATCA e-invoicing compliance also needed to be addressed — without adding complexity to an already stretched finance team.

What We Did

Azdan implemented Oracle NetSuite ERP with OneWorld at its core — giving DLE a single consolidated financial platform across all three entities, with full multi-currency and multi-subsidiary support. The implementation covered the complete financial suite: general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, cash management, tax management, fixed assets, consolidation, budgeting, and amortization schedules.

• NetSuite OneWorld — unified entity management across UAE, KSA, and Lebanon, with real-time consolidation, intercompany transactions, and multi-currency reporting in one platform.
• Fixed Asset Management — structured tracking and depreciation management for DLE's production assets, fabrication equipment, and installations across entities.

ZATCA e-invoicing compliance was enabled natively inside NetSuite for the KSA entity — no middleware, no separate system, fully integrated from day one. An ongoing managed service agreement with Azdan ensures the platform is continuously supported as DLE's operations evolve.

One Platform Across the Studio

DLE's finance team moved from managing three disconnected entities to operating from a single consolidated view. Multi-currency project economics became trackable in real time. Fixed assets gained structured governance across the studio's full production infrastructure. And the KSA entity's ZATCA obligations became a routine, automated process rather than a manual compliance burden.

For a creative studio whose work demands the highest standards of precision and craft, having a financial platform that operates to the same standard makes the difference between reactive management and genuine strategic control.