Average Speed of Answer (ASA)

What is the average speed of answer (ASA)?

Average speed of answer (ASA) is a contact center metric used to measure the time an agent takes to answer a customer call once it is routed to them. It is an integral part of service level agreements (SLA) leveraged as a guarantee to answer a certain volume of calls within an agreed time frame. It’s essential to monitor ASA as it is an indicator of the efficiency of your contact center operations and the service level provided by your contact center. 

 Efficient monitoring of the average speed of answer (ASA) leads to the following benefits: 

1. Lower call abandonment rates 
2. Lower average handle time (AHT) 
3. Better CSAT 
4. SLA compliance 
5. Operational efficiency 

Five ways to monitor and optimize average speed of answer  

Tracking and optimizing ASA can be done in the following ways: 

1. Improve IVR Systems 

Based on the data of common customer queries, review and update interactive voice response (IVR) menus to reduce time spent navigating the system.  

2. Optimize your workforce 

Use a workforce management tool to read through call volume patterns, identify peak and low call volume time periods to deploy the right number of agents accordingly.  

3. Better agent training 

Use quality monitoring tools to know the performance of your agents and implement rigorous training programs to close skill gaps.  

4. Skill-based routing 

Use routing algorithms and pre-defined rules in your automatic call distributor (ACD) to route calls to agents with the necessary skill sets.