Available time or idle time is the status of the agent who is available to take calls. This is possible if the agent is logged into the Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) but is not involved in any other task like training, coaching, breaks, etc.
Available time is important for call center managers to understand the bandwidth of resources especially when high volume calls pour in.
In case of 0% available time, the callers will be kept in queue and this might have an impact on the KPIs of your customer service team.
On the other hand, if the available time is 100%, it will lead to a burned-out team because they will end up taking up back-to-back calls.
There should be an optimal balance in the available time to ensure efficiency and productivity in your team.
It is quite challenging to manage available time if you have a lean team. In that case, the available time should be distributed evenly to ensure less queue and more efficiency. For instance, 5 people are attending calls out of 6, then available time will be considered as 5%. To make a balance you want to increase the available time from 10-15% and this is when you should consider hiring more agents to ensure maximum productivity.
Simple Call management tools such as cloud call center and IVR system can help you distribute calls based on the available time at your call center. Try now.
