How to Reduce Average Speed of Answer in the Call Center

By Shauna Geraghty
0 min read
As a call center manager, analyzing KPIs to track your team’s performance is important, but acting on the results is even more so. This blog post will help you do just that. It provides information about how to reduce average speed of answer (ASA), a frequently analyzed call center KPI associated with efficiency and agent accessibility.
Call center managers can reduce average speed of answer in their call center by:
Improving call forecasting
The first step to reducing ASA in the call center is accurately forecasting call volume. Doing so will lay a solid foundation from which managers can accurately staff and schedule agents in accordance with predicted call volume. This will have a large impact on reducing ASA in the call center as teams will be well-prepared to meet the demands of inbound calls.
Optimizing workforce management
Making sure that the right agents with the right skills are working exactly when they are needed is imperative when aiming to reduce average speed of answer in the call center. Optimizing workforce management will do just that. For example, Foremost Insurance Group recently decreased their ASA to 18 seconds by deploying a workforce management solution. Workforce management systems allow companies to optimize their agent scheduling, occupancy rates and schedule adherence – all key to reducing ASA in the call center.
Optimizing agent training
In order to reduce average speed of answer in the call center, agents must have the skills necessary to effectively and efficiently meet callers’ needs. This reduces handle time and frees up staff to field more calls, thus reducing ASA. Make sure that call center agent training protocols include information about the importance of ASA, call handling best practices as well as how to efficiently resolve caller issues. Agents should also receive comprehensive training on the product, their call center software, helpdesk and other integrated business tools. Finally, they should be told where to look for answers when they don’t know how to resolve an issue and who to ask for help when they don’t know what to do. Optimizing call center agent training will help agents hit the ground running – and reduce ASA.