EXPERT RESPONSE
There is no formula for lowering average handle time (AHT) in the call center. You can start with some analysis of call center trends, comparisons between performance of top call center agents and others, and time and motion studies. You should analyze both the talk time and the wrap time in this process. Once you analyze the details of the current state, you can look for potential areas of improvement.
Work with your quality monitoring team, training staff, process designers, and systems staff to review opportunities for improvement. Then you can set a target for how much you can lower AHT, based on the types of changes you can make. Sometimes process changes and coaching is all you need to gain some noticeable improvements. In other cases, the AHT is fairly well-optimized and more significant investments in call center software are required to gain noticeable improvements.
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