AHT Definition???

[jp2time]

What does your call center include in it's AHT (Average Handle Time)?

The center I just started working with is only using ACD Talk Time + After Call Work (ACW).

I have suggested that they need to factor in Average Hold Time as well (when the agent places the caller on hold). What are your thoughts on this?

[Martijn]

Our AHT consists of the following items ACD+ACW+Hold+Ring.

[ctaylor]

I have seen many different versions of AHT definitions. Some of them are driven by a lack of knowledge and some are intentionally creating a lower number; either to attempt to reduce the actual AHT by holding out a lower target or to claim an improvement in operational efficiency.

I have always employed Talk Time + Hold Time as the basic time to handle an inquiry. You can add Wrap Time or after call time to this equation, but you should really be viewing wrap time as an opportunity to improve agent performance and/or leverage technology to reduce this. You may also add queue time if you wish to examine the caller perception of AHT.

Hope this helps. If I can be of any further assistance please contact me directly at ctaylor@thetaylorreachgroup.com

Colin

[Frank A. Engle]

Hello JP!

Through my experience in both in-house and outsource callcenters, the most common, albeit simplistic, answer to your question regarding the AHT formula is:

What your acd/switch is able to measure most accurately and automatically.

As a rule, when setting up the parameters for my clients, I try to replicate the callers experience as accurately as possible when measuring call center performance. If your equipment can measure and report ring time, queue time, talk time, hold time and wrap time cumulatively for all calls and also have the ability to break out each segment individually for analysis, that is the optimum IMHO.

Hope this helps...

Best regards-

[thetuan]

JP,

Simply put - Averaged Handled Time should be the time the call hit the CSR to the time the call is resolved. The reason why you need to include all the possible time (talk time, hold time, wrap up time) is because your workforce team will be able to accurately forecast staffing needs and schedule your CSR pool efficiently if they incorporate the right assumption for AHT. If you don't give them the correct AHT, they will come up with a lower staffing requirement than what is reality in your call center.

Thanks

[Jenna1]

Hi J.P.

In my opinion, AHT should include everything involved in handling the call, from hello to goodbye with ACW (wrap time) included.

Therefore, AHT should consist of Talk Time + Hold Time + ACW.

Including all three components of the call is imperative when it comes to accurate forecasting. If for example, hold time is omitted from the AHT calculation it can have a significant negative impact when it comes to forecasting based on AHT.

Hope this helps!

[JoeB]

The prime use of AHT is in staffing calculations. Workforce management tools use call volume and average duration of each call (AHT) to determine the required headcount to support the desired service level. Tools like EasyErlang (www.DiagnosticStrategies.com/EasyErlang.htm) look at AHT as strictly the time on the phone and any ACW for that call only. In other words, this is the time an agent is busy handling a single phone call before she or he is ready for the next one.

AHT is strictly a telephony term pertaining to a single call from the agentÂ’s perspective. Therefore, it does not include ring time or hold time.

AHT is not the same as resolution time, which seems to drive some of the previous comments. Say a customer issue involved two calls. At the first call, which took 9 minutes, the agent attempted to resolve the problem and gave the caller a couple of options to try. The caller called back 2 hours later to report that the problem still persisted. During the second call, which took 6 minutes, the issue was resolved. The resolution time (MTTR in field service industry parlance) was 2.25 hours, and AHT was 7.5 minutes.

Joe

[jp2time]

[i]

AHT is not the same as resolution time, which seems to drive some of the previous comments. Say a customer issue involved two calls. At the first call, which took 9 minutes, the agent attempted to resolve the problem and gave the caller a couple of options to try. The caller called back 2 hours later to report that the problem still persisted. During the second call, which took 6 minutes, the issue was resolved. The resolution time (MTTR in field service industry parlance) was 2.25 hours, and AHT was 7.5 minutes.

Joe [/B]

Then how do you account for the hold time? If an agent places a third of their calls on hold, this time should be accounted for correct? If not in AHT would you count it in your shrinkage?

[jp2time]

Originally posted by Jenna1
Hi J.P.

In my opinion, AHT should include everything involved in handling the call, from hello to goodbye with ACW (wrap time) included.

Therefore, AHT should consist of Talk Time + Hold Time + ACW.

Including all three components of the call is imperative when it comes to accurate forecasting. If for example, hold time is omitted from the AHT calculation it can have a significant negative impact when it comes to forecasting based on AHT.

Hope this helps!

Jenna, I think you are correct. Without the hold time included, it looks like my requirements are lower than they really are.

[JoeB]

The answer re: hold time is simple. If, after placing the caller on hold, the agent is involved in an activity related to that call, then hold time is part of AHT. If the agent is placing one call on hold and answers another (a bad practiceÂ….), then hold time should not be included in the first callÂ’s of AHT.

Joe

[Kirsten]

I'm replying to this post, because I was surprised to see that "my" method wasn't yet mentioned here:

My calculation for AHT is:

(Total ACD Time [Talk Time] + Total ACW + Total Hold + Total Ext-Out) / ACD Calls.


Please notice that I am calculating out-bound call time in my inbound AHT calculation. My reasoning is that in my inbound call center environment, all outbound calls are a direct result of an inbound call, and thus work related to the inbound call, just like anything the agents are doing in ACW. Also, when on an outbound call, my agents are not available for the inbound call, so that time needs to be taken into account somewhere, or I will be undertaffed. (I have heard this calculation referred to as "fully loaded AHT")

For those of you who are Avaya users, yes, I do extrapolate the extension out time that naturally falls in ACW, so I am not double counting

Some choose to account of outbound call time in shrinkage, but I find that to be cumbersome. (Some forget to include it anywhere.)

[n_meghanath]

I would sum up this way

Caller calls, hits IVR, on queue, agents gets ring, picked up calls, puts on hold, transfer calls, Wrap up the call.

Now from where would you like to count when we say Average handle time? Lets say what would the customer say if we ask how long does it take? and lets ask the agent how many sec he took to handle the customer. Lets ask the workforce team what would he consider for forecasting or scheduling. And finally what does your business ask you to consider?

Regards
Meghanath