Merrick Hardwoods

Merrick Hardwood Floors operates six interconnected businesses, including a pellet mill that serves as its most profitable division. Despite its strong market position, the company faced serious technology challenges across the stack that put operations at risk. Their on-premise infrastructure, including a vulnerable Exchange server, had been compromised by ransomware three times in just four years. These repeated breaches caused significant business disruptions, put valuable data at risk, and consumed IT resources.

Compounding the problem were ongoing inefficiencies in payroll processing, electronic data interchange (EDI) with outside partners, and a heavy reliance on manual workflows. With a single IT manager overseeing all six companies, the lack of modern systems meant daily firefighting, limited scalability, and no room for strategic growth.

Merrick Hardwood Floors turned to Tigunia for a comprehensive modernization strategy. The partnership began with a critical move from on-premise systems to a secure, cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central environment to eliminate the vulnerabilities previously allowing ransomware to infiltrate their systems.

Tigunia also worked closely with Merrick to resolve EDI challenges, improving the accuracy and speed of data exchanges and eliminating the bad data issues that had slowed operations in the pellet mill division. The Tigunia team upgraded Merrick’s payroll system and replaced outdated processes and time clocks with more integrated, automated tools. Ultimately, Tigunia became an extension of Merrick’s IT department, enabling the company to operate all six businesses with a single IT manager and avoid the cost of additional hires by providing reliable, personable, expert support at all times.

Migrating to Business Central’s cloud environment eliminated the security gaps caused by legacy on-premise systems, and Merrick has experienced no ransomware incidents since the move. Improvements to the prepayment invoice process and other workflows prevented up to $100,000 in potential lost revenue, while automation of internal processes has improved overall efficiency and reduced manual errors. Resolving EDI challenges has cut down the time spent chasing bad data, especially in the pellet mill division, which is their largest profit center.

Perhaps most importantly, Tigunia’s ongoing IT partnership has allowed Merrick to run six companies with just one in-house IT manager, delivering both cost savings and peace of mind. For the first time in three years, their IT manager has been able to take a vacation, confident that operations will continue smoothly thanks to Tigunia’s expertise and reliable support.