MetricNet Metrics that Matter | Average Speed of Answer ASA

Average Speed of Answer (ASA) is the total wait time that callers are in queue, divided by the number of voice calls handled.

Let’s say, for example, that a service desk accepts 5,000 live voice calls, and the collective time in queue for all calls accepted was 250,000 seconds. For that month, the ASA was 50 seconds (250,000 seconds ÷ 5,000 calls accepted).

Abandoned calls are not included in the calls accepted number when calculating ASA.

Why is this important?

ASA indicates how responsive a service desk is to incoming calls.

When setting service levels, it is important to understand that as ASA decreases, cost goes up.

This is because low ASAs are most often the result of over-staffing on the service desk.

MetricNet’s research has shown that as long as ASA remains less than 30% of ticket handle time, there is no customer satisfaction benefit to be gained by further reducing ASA.

The simple fact is this...

There is a “sweet spot” where ASA can be optimized to minimize costs without sacrificing customer satisfaction. That sweet spot appears to be when ASA is between 25% and 30% of average handle time.

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