Definition
Average Speed of Answer is the average delay a contact experiences in queue before an agent answers. It is averaged across every answered contact, including the many that are answered immediately, which is why a healthy ASA is usually far lower than people expect.
In Erlang C terms, ASA is derived from the probability of waiting: ASA = P(wait) × AHT ÷ (agents − traffic intensity). It falls very sharply as you add agents above the workload level, then flattens out.
ASA is an average, so it hides the tail. A 20-second ASA can coexist with several callers waiting five minutes, which is exactly why service level (a percentage answered inside a threshold) is usually the better headline target.
Why it matters
- ASA is intuitive for operational stakeholders and useful in intraday reviews as a fast read on queue health.
- Paired with service level it shows whether misses are broad or concentrated in a small number of very long waits.
- A rising ASA with stable volume usually means an adherence, shrinkage or AHT problem rather than a forecasting one.
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