Formula for AHT

Answers

• Mugisha Mulera Nelson Posted at 7:11AM on Apr 11, 2011

  Is it possible to forecast the AHT? what could be the formula and the variables to include?

• Rick Rude Posted at 4:51AM on May 11, 2011

  Highest level it is the length of time servicing that particular customer. Total Talk Time + Total ACW + Total Hold Time (Hold time could be putting on hold to simply research but could also mean put on hold, then go into a dial out mode to make an outbound call for tracking so this should be included). Please don't be one of those that celebrates or forces low ACW - just means that the Hold Time or Talk Time was higher to accomodate the agent to wrap up the call while customer suffers through processes. Good luck. Rick

• Bernard Tsang Posted at 9:27AM on Jul 5, 2011

  The AHT formula I used is to add Average Talk Time, Average Hold Time and After Call Work. What I like to clarify is whether we should include unattached ACW (ACW not associated with the call) or not. If we ignore unattached ACW, we may understate AHT for forecasting purposes. What is your view on this?

• Austin Brown Posted at 9:53AM on Jul 5, 2011

  Hi Katherine, Typically it is talk time + hold time + ACW time / total contacts. You mentioned you are thinking about changing how you calculate it. Why is that? Is there a behavior your call center is looking to measure or manage? Thanks, Austin

• Armand Confesor Posted at 8:21AM on Oct 17, 2011

  What if you're doing Outbound Calls and would want to apply similar functionality? Or does it even apply particularly on manual dialing? At the same time, people are taking email inquiries as well. You have dial time, customer answers or call goes to vm, and end of call. Rep works on touchnotes and then moves on to the next dial. How do you measure Handle Time esp. if there are Call requirements to be hit on a daliy basis?

• pallav agarwal Posted at 8:04AM on Jul 2, 2012

  Our formula for AHT = Total staff time - Available time / Number of calls. PALLAV AGARWAL (HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD)

• Ric Watts Posted at 12:00AM on Apr 20, 2007

  We use (Talk Time + Hold Time + Work/Wrap Time)/Calls Handled. Not including Hold time would make it a huge benefit to your specialists to spend as much time in hold as possible to reduce their AHT. I would highly suggest making it a part of average handle time. -- Ric Watts

• Mitch Banisor Posted at 12:00AM on Aug 10, 2007

  AHT = Average Handling Time which means it has nothing to do with the number of calls. (as somebody answered) So the formula is AHT = Talk Time + Not Ready Time + Hold Time -- Mitch Banisor, DB&A

• monty Posted at 12:00AM on Sep 6, 2007

  The formula for AHT is as follows: AHT=ATT + ACW + Hold time - or - AHT=Avg talk time + After call work + Hold time Regards -- Monty, HP

• bhushibaby Posted at 12:00AM on Sep 21, 2007

  Are we including the Ring time in AHT? Please Let me know.

• Rajas Daithankar Posted at 12:00AM on Oct 5, 2007

  Ring time should count towards the "queue time." The handle time starts only after the customer contact is answered by the agent. Anything prior to this counts towards the "queue time" or "wait time" from the customer experience perspective. I have found many contact centers have deployed the auto-answer (a.k.a., zip tone) feature on their ACD. The agent hears a brief zip and the customer is automatically connected without the agent having to hit the "answer" button. Thus the ring time is avoided. The only caveat here is that the agents must strictly put themselves in AUX mode before leaving their headsets. If they don't, then the customer is answered at a headset where there is no human being to complete the request, and the customer hangs up and calls again. Whereas, if using the "phone-rings-and-the-agent-presses-answer-button" sequence, and the agent physically leaves while in "Available" state, you could set a predetermined time (say 5 seconds) spent ringing, after which the call is redirected elsewhere. Hope this answers the question. Thanks. -- Rajas Daithankar, Avaya Australia

• Patrick Ross Espiritu Posted at 12:00AM on Oct 5, 2007

  Hi, Through simulation runs before, I found out that adding Average Talk Time (ATT) and Average After Call Work (ACW) time is equivalent to (Total Talk Time + Total ACW Time)/Answered Calls. So this means that, yes, the number of calls do not matter, if your ACD system gives you the ATT and Average ACW data. If it doesn't then you use this: (Total Talk Time + Total ACW Time)/Answered Calls. I have a concern on the Hold Time, though. In previous responses, you're putting averages with a "Total" (Hold). Doesn't this skew your formula? What I use is this: (Total Talk Time + Total ACW Time + Total Hold Time)/Answered Calls. Any comments? Thanks. -- Patrick Ross Espiritu, Smart Communications, Philippines

• Jay Tuazon Posted at 12:00AM on Oct 5, 2007

  Hi, The basic components of AHT are what is outlined above, which basically take into consideration the following: a) Talk Time b) Hold Time c) After-call work time (wrap-up time) Ring time is not usually included in AHT. This is because some companies actually use this feature (and modify it) based on their need (caller behavior). Thus, including ring time will not give you a true picture of your AHT if this is included. This may affect your forecasting and scheduling. Hope this helps. -- Jay Tuazon, SMART I-Contacts Corporation

• Neal Saveron Posted at 12:00AM on Apr 7, 2008

  I agree with Patrick. We also compute AHT as (Total Talk Time + Total ACW Time + Total Hold Time)/ Total Answered Calls. The problem with using the averages is that most automatic call distributors (ACD) (such as Avaya CMS) compute Average Hold time as Total Hold Time / Total Held Calls; while Average Talk Time and Average ACW time has Total Calls Answered as their denominator (Talk Time/Calls Answered = Ave Talk Time; ACW Time/Calls Answered = Ave ACW). But if your Average Hold Time is defined as Total Hold Time/Total Calls Answered, then your AHT can be computed as Ave Talk Time + Ave ACW + Ave Hold Time. Exactly how should Average Hold Time be computed anyway? Is it Hold Time against Held Calls, or against Total Calls Answered? -- Neal Saveron, VXI Global Solutions, Inc.