Getting Better Metrics: Average Handle Time

Average Handle Time (AHT) is one common metric measured by contact centers to understand how they are doing at servicing their customers and how they could improve. Simple enough? Not really! There is a lot of controversy over AHT. Should it be as short as possible? Should it take as long as necessary? Is it more important that First Call Resolution? Customer Satisfaction? Should we measure it at all? These questions and more have been plaguing the contact center industry for years!

Here at Centris, we consider Average Handle Time to include all the following:

1. The initial call from the customer.
2. The amount of time the agent spends with the customer.
3. Any tasks that are required as follow-up.

Conventional wisdom has often dictated that a short AHT is desirable and should be a primary goal of the contact center. However, we believe focusing too much on a short AHT can be counter-productive, especially if it comes at the expense of customer satisfaction. The key is all in how we should look at AHT.

AHT-A BENCHMARK RATHER THAN THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS

Here at Centris, we tend to look at AHT as an efficiency indicator of our team rather than a success metric.  In other words, if our AHT is too long, this tells us that, perhaps we are not empowering our agents with the knowledge and authority they need to resolve a customer’s issue. If an agent must seek permission to do something, or if he or she is having difficulty working through the problem, this tells us that we need to tweak some things at our end. Perhaps we need to provide this agent with some additional training, or perhaps our CS managers need to re-evaluate some of their procedures for our agents to work more efficiently.  Some issues will be resolved quickly while others will take longer to work through. Newer agents will likely take longer on a transaction than a more seasoned agent. These are factors that affect AHT.

Our primary goal is customer satisfaction, not a short conversation. Therefore, focusing on having a short AHT can be a double-edged sword.

HOW CENTRIS USES AHT IN OUR CONTACT CENTERS

At Centris, we work with many different industries and each of these industries has specific customer needs. With our primary goal being customer satisfaction, we have implemented the following practices that enable us to have a desirable AHT across a broad spectrum of industries.

• Agent training for each specific industry- when we sign a new client, we see ourselves as an extension of that client’s business. We spend a considerable amount of time working with the client to understand their business and their specific customer. By the time our agents begin to service their customers, they have a solid understanding of their company and can truly function as an extension of their business.
• Clearly defined tasks for each customer- with each new client comes a new set of customer service tasks that our agents are expected to fulfill. These tasks are clearly laid out during our on-boarding sessions and agents can ask questions and role play as part of their training.
• Regular monitoring- once our agents are up and running with a new client, the AHT is monitored closely. We monitor how long the calls are taking and measure that against the average for that industry. If our agent calls are taking too long, we provide additional training to help them become more efficient. In most cases, our monitoring shows us that our AHT is quite efficient.

With Centris, Customer Satisfaction is always our primary goal. Our use of AHT helps us to see how we are achieving that goal and if we can make improvements. If you are looking for a customer support service that focuses on customer satisfaction, contact us. We’d love to show you how we can improve your bottom line by offering superior customer service.