An important performance indicator of the contact center is the Average Handling Time (AHT), the average duration during which an agent spends in solving an interaction with a customer. It is the implication of the time taken by the agents in attending to the customer problems.
AHT consists of the entire interaction lifecycle, which is answering the call, welcoming the customer, making the necessary mandatory disclosures (announcing the recording of the call), fixing the problem, putting the customer on hold (where applicable), and doing post call documentation or follow-ups.
The main goal of monitoring AHT is to determine inefficiencies or bottlenecks of customer support process and enhance overall working performance.
Average Handling Time is calculated by the following formula:
(Average Talk Time + Average Post - Call Work) divided by the Total Number of Tickets.
This will show how productive and efficient each agent is, revealing the big picture of the customer support operation.
No universal AHT benchmark exists, which applies to all contact centers. Nonetheless, research indicates that voice call average AHT is about 6 minutes and 10 seconds.
Ideal AHT is different based on:
In this case, example, email and case-based support interactions tend to possess a higher AHT than real-time voice or chat interactions.
Minimizing the average handling time is the goal of every call center. The lesser time is taken to resolve an issue, the better it is. It means AHT should ideally be less. Here are some tips to reduce your AHT.
Average Handling Time is an important measure of efficiency of the contact center. Although a low AHT is an indication of quicker issue resolution, this should be in balance with customer satisfaction and quality of resolutions. Striking the optimal AHT is essential to provide the contact centers with faster services, lower costs of operation, and enhance the productivity of the agents and customer service.