Average Handle Time (AHT) measures how long a support interaction takes from start tofinish, including active conversation time, hold time, and any after-contact work liketagging or follow-up notes
AHT is one of the most commonly misused metrics in customer service.Pushing it down aggressively can backfire if agents start rushing conversations to hit atarget, which tends to increase repeat contacts and drag down CSAT and First ContactResolution instead. The more useful read on AHT is relative: is it dropping becauseagents have better tools and context, or because they're cutting corners.
AHT is typically calculated as total handle time (talk time plus holdtime plus after-contact work) divided by the number of contacts handled, usuallyreported per channel since a phone call and a chat conversation behave differently.
Rapha reduced average handle time to 4 minutes against a6-minute benchmark after switching to Dixa's unified workspace, where agents see orderhistory, past conversations, and customer context in one screen instead of switchingbetween systems to gather it.