The Client
Dobbies Garden Centres is the UK’s leading garden centre retailer with 74 stores nationwide, offering plants, gardening products, restaurants, experiences, and digital services that enrich people’s lives.
The Challenge
As customer expectations for digital engagement grew, Dobbies needed to modernise how loyalty and point‑of‑sale tablets were managed and integrated with its newly deployed Microsoft Dynamics CRM system.
Since 2014, Dobbies had relied on IBM MaaS360 for mobile device management, but that solution could not support the CRM integration and was nearing end‑of‑life on many tablets. With limited internal resources and ageing devices, the garden centre needed a robust, integrated solution that could securely manage devices, integrate with modern systems, and help protect customer data, all without disrupting store operations.
Key Challenges
- Aging devices: Many Android tablets were end-of-life or no longer fit for purpose.
- System integration: MDM couldn’t support Microsoft Dynamics CRM
- Limited resources: Teams lacked capacity for full device refresh
- Data Security: Customer loyalty data needed secure handling in line with GDPR.
- Scalability: Solution needed to supportgrowth and digital services.
The Solution
CWSI delivered a tailored Ivanti MobileIron UEM solution across Dobbies’ tablet estate, replacing ageing hardware and providing a secure, integrated platform:
- Assessment & Planning for evaluating devices and integration requirements
- Device Refresh to replace end-of-life tablets with modern, capable devices
- UEM & Dynamics Integration for seamless Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration and endpoint management
- Managed Services to provide ongoing support for device lifecycle, security, and scalability
The Result
Dobbies now benefits from a secure, scalable, and future ready device ecosystem that integrates with core business systems and enhances both customer and employee experience.
Key Outcomes
- Devices and systems evaluated to ensure smooth CRM integration across all stores
- End-of-life tablets replaced with modern devices, improving performance and reliability for staff
- Ivanti MobileIron implemented to provide seamless CRM connectivity and consistent device management
- Ongoing managed services delivered to secure devices, streamline operations, and support future growth
Why CWSI
Dobbies had been a CWSI customer since 2014 and chose CWSI again for this project due to CWSI’s strong reputation, platform agnostic expertise, and proven experience managing large UEM environments. With accredited Ivanti MobileIron engineers and a turnkey device management programme, CWSI delivered a swift, secure, and reliable deployment with no downtime.
“CWSI aren’t just a supplier; they’re a valued partner. Having worked with them since 2014, we knew we could trust them to deliver on this next phase of our growth journey. It was an open discussion from the outset, they listened to our needs and designed an objective-driven solution tailored to our business.
This system upgrade is part of the ongoing modernisation of Dobbies to continue to meet with customers’ rising expectations for digital services. All aspects of the project were delivered on time, and we were delighted with a very speedy turnaround. The solution has future‑proofed the management of these devices and offers flexibility and scalability which is hugely important as we continue to expand.”
Campbell Irvine, Head of Infrastructure, Dobbies Garden Centres
