ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP
Extends interiors reach across USA
DIGITAL REPORT 2021
EXTENDS INTERIORS REACH ACROSS USA
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ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP
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ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP
Artisan Design Group CIO Delano Gordon reflects on ‘urban flight’ in the United States and how physical and virtual solutions are providing a new competitive edge
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rtisan Design Group (ADG) prides itself on providing homeowners with a superlative finished product – but its story has been one of ongoing change and development. From a flooring solutions provider serving the single-family and multi-family sector in 10 locations five years ago, it has grown into a national technology-enabled company with diverse geographic and sector coverage across 145 locations and 25 states. The interior finishing company, which employs 3,100 staff, provides flooring, counter tops and cabinets, serves predominantly new construction singlefamily homes, multi-family apartment complexes and replacement segments. It deals with commercial spaces too, fitting out spaces for airports, hospitals, gymnasiums, and the hospitality sector, which is a smaller but growing part of the business. Chief Information Officer Delano Gordon designs and executes the strategic direction for the $1 billion company – which involves dealing with 22 companies, or ‘entrepreneurs’ as he calls them, within the nationwide ADG portfolio. “Well over two-thirds of our business is single family,” he says. “We are starting to see a new trend in single-family homes for rent. I think it’s the beginning of a permanent trend as home ownership in some areas is a challenge.” 4
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“We’re seeing significant ‘urban flight’ with younger millennials moving out to the suburbs, and a lot of demand for single household homes” DELANO GORDON
CIO, ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP artisandesigngroup.us
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ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP
Artisan Design Group extends interiors reach across USA
A critical link in the – we simply support “From a project homebuilding process, them in their endeavors management ADG differentiates itself to grow their businesses. perspective, COVID has at critical phases of the Our light-touch process, from interior approach centralises shifted everything. We design selection and key functions like HR have a backlog of work procurement/fulfillment and IT and introduces that can’t be addressed to interior installation and new technologies – Quality Control. as quickly as we’d like to” typically those things “Our diversity is one of are challenges for small our strengths,” he said. companies to manage.” DELANO GORDON “The 22 organisations He describes the CIO, ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP have been pillars in their market as ‘very hot’, local communities for fueled not only by several decades, they’re led by seasoned COVID-related dynamics but industry buzz professionals and industry veterans. surrounding the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. “Our entire go-to-market strategy, unlike “We’re seeing significant ‘urban flight’ many competitors, is to allow them to remain with younger millennials moving out to as they are – they maintain their own branding the suburbs, and a lot of demand for single 6
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DELANO GORDON TITLE: CIO INDUSTRY: CONSTRUCTION LOCATION: TEXAS, UNITED STATES Delano has spent over 30 years managing, developing, and mentoring IT organisations to efficiency leveraging known industry best practices. Prior to joining ADG, he was a lead executive consultant to national drywall distributor L&W Supply in Chicago and Wisconsin based roofing distributor ABC Supply on digitally transformative initiatives. He previously served as CIO of Roofing Supply Group and XL Parts with prior stints at former global mobile phone distributor CellStar, telecommunications giant GTE (Verizon), and professional services firm PwC. He holds an MBA, Masters degree in Network Security/Information Assurance, a Bachelors of Science in Information Systems and various certifications from IBM , Microsoft, ITIL, and Six Sigma.
EXECUTIVE BIO
household homes,” he said. “The flight from urban to suburbs will continue to rural areas, as broadband availability improves, and people continue to work remotely. That will spur more homes and provide an opportunity to see an uptick in our business.” He acknowledges the pandemic has put a strain on its supply chain, however. “The market is settling back down but it’s impacted price, availability, and affordability. From a project management perspective, COVID has shifted everything. We have a backlog of work that can’t be addressed as quickly as we’d like to.” He highlights TPx, which operates a wide portfolio of infrastructure services as a key partner for the last three years. “We’re using them specifically for Infrastructure-as-a-Service and looking to expand our WAN and private cloud architecture. The 22 ERPs we have in place are difficult to manage and don’t allow for a scaling ecosystem. We have initiatives underway to collapse that into a single ERP platform for the entire organisation. We’re still going through that process work.” Originally, TPx formed a relationship with one of ADG’s companies in Houston, and it has expanded the relationship to encompass the whole portfolio. “It’s that ability to scale effectively which has helped us transition to TPx – they have capable resources able to respond as business dynamics require.” He added it is replacing an existing provider, after experiencing service disruptions and poor user experiences, and looking to modernise the organisation by transitioning away from some legacy equipment into a new state-of-the-art environment, which will be hosted by TPx. ADG does not mandate but encourages a hybrid work environment where it makes sense. It is taking a similar physical-and-virtual approach to business.
ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP
• Installed Interior Products Leader • Customer-Centric Sales Model • Centralized Platform • Attractive growth trajectory • Massive M&A opportunity • Exceptional leadership team
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ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP
“The 22 ERPs we have in place are difficult to manage and don’t allow for a scaling ecosystem. We have initiatives underway to collapse that into a single ERP platform for the entire organisation” DELANO GORDON
CIO, ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP
While it has physical design centres in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, it is embracing an online presence too. Its Design Central virtual design centre portal enables customers to visualise interior finishes at home ahead of an in-person appointment; allowing customers to browse product offerings and compare costs on their own time. The valuable insight provided by the portal allows designers to efficiently serve more customers per day and customise product offerings more effectively, creating combined time savings, increasing throughput and highermargin mix, driving growth and profitability. “We’re trying to alleviate some of the pressure, so customers can gain a perspective of all the details – the flooring, cabinets, colors, so they can visualise what their space will look like and place favorite combinations in their carts, so when they meet our design consultant, it shortens the appointment. By then, you’re just concentrating on preferred products and consultants can coach through those selections.” Another innovation allows homeowners to put on VR Goggles in the centres, immersing them in that space where they can apply or artisandesigngroup.us
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ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP
ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP
“I expect the trend will continue. I liken it to purchasing a car online for the first time - and we’ll see it more with homes and greater adoption following the pandemic with more people working remotely” DELANO GORDON
CIO, ARTISAN DESIGN GROUP
change details. Depending how the market responds, we’ll see how to branch out to other locations. “We’re seeing males are keen to put them on more, not so many women. Millennials and younger consumers are also more apt to try such things,” he said. “I expect the trend will continue. I liken it to purchasing a car online for the first time – and we’ll see it more with homes gaining greater adoption following the pandemic with more people working remotely.” With environmental sustainability rising in importance, Gordon said it will explore more ways it can boost efficiencies. “While we don’t maintain a large fleet of vehicles, we have considered, aside from reducing the need to travel to design centres, looking at regionalising distribution and warehousing between locations so we can better leverage shared spaces” he said. “We have a lot of wide-open space in Texas. By improving road and rail there will be greater mobility and accessibility. There is now a working group looking at the feasibility of high-speed rail in the state.”
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Artisan Design Group 3401 Olympus Blvd Suite 450 Dallas TX 75019
T 682 324 9402 | artisandesigngroup.us
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