Average Speed of Answer - Definition, Importance & Example
What is Average Speed of Answer?
Average Speed of Answer is defined as the average waiting time for a customer before he or she is answered to by a service representative. It can also be seen as the average number of seconds a representative takes to answer a customer call in seconds. Average speed of answer is a term pertaining to the service industry and more often than not it is used in context with the call centres where it is also referred to as Average Seconds to Answer (ASA) and Average Time to Answer (ATA).
Formula
Mathematically, it can be expressed as:
Average Speed of Answer=Total Waiting time for Callers (in seconds)/Total Number of Callers
Importance of Average Speed of Answer
Average speed of answer is an important KPI in the call center industry. Lower the average speed of answer is, the better it is. This means that either the CSRs are efficient or the support model is very good. But it is very important to track the the seconds effectively because lower number does not mean effective support. The other parameters like customer satisfaction should also be taken into consideration.
Example of Average Speed of Answer
Assume that there are 100 callers in a day and the total waiting time for all callers is 1 hour.
Total waiting time in seconds = 1*60*60 = 3600 secs.
Total number of callers = 100
Therefore, ASA = 3600/100 = 36 secs.
Qualitatively, it implies that on that particular day it takes 36 secs. On an average before his call is answered by a service representative.
Hence, this concludes the definition of Average Speed of Answer along with its overview.
This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.
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