Work out average handle time from your talk, hold and after-call work, see how it splits, what it costs each month, and what cutting it by a few seconds is worth.
AHT is an input to the Erlang C calculator for staffing. For call minutes and telephony cost, use the talk time calculator.
From your dialer or ACD report for the period
Time callers spent on hold during the call
Wrap-up: notes, tagging, follow-up after the call
Answered calls only, not abandoned ones
Average handle time
07:00 min:sec
420 seconds, or 7 minutes, per call
Talk share
71.4%
300 s per call
Hold share
7.1%
30 s per call
ACW share
21.4%
90 s per call
All calls agents handle in a month
Example value. Use your fully loaded cost: salary, benefits, seat, supervision.
Assumption: 160 (8 hours x 20 days). Edit for your shifts.
Agent hours per month
1,166.7
About 7.3 full-time agents of handle time
Cost per call
₹29.17
Monthly agent cost of handling
₹2,91,667
New AHT
06:30
30 s shorter; ₹27.08 per call
Agent hours saved per month
83.3
Saved per month
₹20,833
₹2,50,000 a year
FTE-equivalent saved
0.52
Hours saved / 160 working hours
Assumptions
Cutting AHT by rushing callers usually backfires: unresolved issues come back as repeat calls, and total handling time goes up. Check the effect with the first call resolution calculator before you set a target.
Order status, appointment booking and payment reminders take agent minutes but little judgement. An AI voice agent can answer them in Indian languages, book into Google Calendar and write order updates back to Shopify, so your agents spend their handle time on the calls that need a person.
Talk to us about a voice agentThe AHT formula is:
AHT = (total talk time + total hold time + total after-call work) / calls handled
For example, 300 calls with 1,500 minutes of talk, 150 minutes of hold and 450 minutes of after-call work give (1,500 + 150 + 450) / 300 = 7 minutes, or 7:00, per call.
Use the same period and the same set of calls for all four numbers. Count answered calls only.
A shorter AHT is only a saving if the issue is still solved. If agents rush, callers ring back, and two short calls cost more than one complete one. Track AHT next to the first call resolution rate.
Changes that usually cut AHT safely:
Try Edesy Voice Agent for order status, booking and reminder calls in Indian languages, or talk to us about a voice agent. To compare the cost of human and AI calls, read AI vs human call center cost in India.
AHT = (total talk time + total hold time + total after-call work) / number of calls handled. Use the same period for every number, and count answered calls only.
No. Time a caller waits in the queue before an agent answers is measured as average speed of answer, not handle time. Hold time in AHT is only the time the caller is put on hold during the call.
It depends on the call type. A delivery status call can take under two minutes, while a technical support or insurance claim call can take ten or more. Compare your AHT with your own past months for the same call type, not with a general benchmark.
Seconds cut per call x calls per month / 3600 gives agent hours saved. That times your agent cost per hour gives rupees saved. It only becomes real money if those hours go to other calls or to fewer paid hours.
When short, simple calls move to an IVR or a voice agent, the calls left for agents are the longer, harder ones, so the average rises. Total agent hours, which is calls times AHT, still goes down. Watch total hours as well as AHT.
Enter AHT in seconds, with calls per interval and your service level target, in the Erlang C calculator. It returns the number of agents needed for that interval.
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AHT from totals or per call averages
Talk, hold and ACW share of each call
Agent hours and cost per call in ₹
Savings from a cut in seconds or percent
FTE-equivalent hours saved
Runs in your browser, no signup
Turn the talk, hold and wrap-up totals from your dialer report into one AHT figure.
See what 20 or 30 seconds less per call is worth in agent hours and rupees before you commit to it.
Get the AHT to feed into an Erlang C calculation for the agents you need per interval.
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