Clerksroom Simplifies Infrastructure and Enhances User Experience with Croft

Clerksroom Enterprise calling in Microsoft Teams enhances user experience and simplifies infrastructure for Clerksroom's voice services.

Clerksroom partnered with Croft to modernise its communications infrastructure. This relationship began with the migration of voice services to Microsoft Teams and evolved into more strategic improvements, including optimising back-end reporting capabilities.

Clerksroom Barristers Chambers (Clerksroom) is a national chambers of barristers and mediators providing advocacy, advice and mediation at all Courts and Tribunals in England and Wales. Clerksroom was launched in 2001 to provide proactive, client-focused legal services. It is an environment and a culture where barristers and clerks can work together in a way that guarantees the consistent delivery of a high-quality and cost-effective legal service.

The Challenge

Clerkroom first turned to Croft with the need for seamless remote working during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Already, heavily invested in Microsoft, they wanted more integration, control and centralisation from their phone system. They needed to find a partner with an excellent reputation for effectively deploying business voice solutions — they found Croft..

The Solution

Microsoft Teams Phone needed to connect to the public telephony network. Putting their trust in Croft, we deployed Direct Routing into a third-party hosting provider’s data centre that Clerksroom was already using, highlighting Croft’s flexibility and experience in multi-vendor deployments. Croft also ported the existing phone numbers from the legacy VoiP system and onto Microsoft Teams. To connect the SIP trunk and the Microsoft 365 Business Voice by using a virtual Session Border Controller (SBC), which allows Clerksroom to make external calls using Teams.

Croft also suggested installing a SIP Trunk Call Manager for added functionality. It not only gives Clerksroom business continuity, but it also means that they can manage all their phone numbers and all aspects of their inbound calls, such as setting up queues and redirecting calls. Croft set up the failover system for external numbers so that Clerksroom would have ‘business as usual’ resilience if the internet or servers went down.

They explored various endpoints and devices and decided on a combination of Teams desk phones and headsets for added flexibility. The final part of the new system deployment was user and admin training, carried out by Croft’s in-house trainer. Croft manages any ongoing support issues for Clerksroom.

The number porting was seamless and could not have gone any better. Clerksroom had tried to port the numbers to another provider about a year ago and had struggled with it so I was expecting issues, however I was pleasantly surprised with how smoothly it went with Croft. Microsoft 365 Business Voice is working well and is very user-friendly. This new business telephony system has improved the user experience and has really helped to simplify our IT infrastructure.

Toby Ward
Business Services Manager of Clerksroom

The Results

One of the key advantages of migrating their voice services to Microsoft Teams has been the ability to integrate Clerksroom’s purpose-built Case Management System (CMS) for critical operations with Microsoft. Already using Office 365 to manage email within their CMS, Clerksroom can now embed phone numbers directly into their case files as hyperlinks, making communication faster, easier, and more intuitive.

With the front-end transformation complete, Clerksroom turned once again to Croft to improve their back-end operations. Croft identified a need for more insightful and detailed reporting and, following a thorough evaluation of available tools, recommended AKIXI. This solution provides real-time wallboards, in-depth reporting, and advanced call management capabilities—delivering the data visibility and control needed to elevate Clerksroom’s customer service and overall performance.

This partnership has not only helped Clerksroom modernise its infrastructure but also unlock new efficiencies and capabilities that will support its continued growth and client satisfaction.