In today’s call and contact centers, agents are caught in the middle of a quiet - but constant - tug-of-war.
Leadership wants faster calls, tighter metrics, and improved efficiency. Customers want patience, empathy, and solutions. Agents are expected to deliver both: all while navigating complex systems, expanding queues, and performance metrics that rarely reflect the realities of the work.
Spend time in agent communities on Reddit or Facebook and the frustration is unmistakable: “They want us to be efficient but not rushed. Empathetic, but fast. Knowledgeable, but trained on everything.”
In many organizations, average handle time (AHT) has become the most visible battleground between efficiency and customer experience (CX).
But the issue isn’t that agents are spending too much time with customers. The real problem is where that time is being spent.
In many centers, a two-minute customer question turns into a 10-minute interaction because the agent is navigating systems, policies, and processes that were never designed to work together.
Too often, contact centers try to improve efficiency at the agent level - shortening talk time, accelerating training, broadening cross-training, and tightening adherence - to name a few.
For when done right, efficiency and CX don't compete. Instead, they should reinforce each other.
Meanwhile, friction before, during, and after the calls continue to slow agents down and frustrate customers. As discussed below, repetitive authentication, hard-to-navigate systems, scattered knowledge, unclear dashboards, and staffing models that prioritize coverage over capability are just a few examples of it.
The result? Calls may move faster on paper, but they rarely move better.
In this three-part article, I am exploring how contact centers can reduce handle time without rushing the customer or the agent: by redesigning authentication, improving knowledge access, rethinking staffing and specialization, and strengthening agent support, to name a few.
Part 1 covers removing customer friction before the call, Part 2 will focus on agent performance strategies and methods, and Part 3 will discuss having the right people in the right place and the tools to help them; it will also present the conclusion.
For when done right, efficiency and CX don’t compete. Instead, they should reinforce each other.
The Real Problem Isn’t Talk Time: It’s Friction
When leaders look at handle time, their instinct is often to focus on what happens during the conversations:
- How long the agents talk.
- How many pauses there are.
- How quickly agents sit in after call work (ACW).
But in most centers, talk time is not the primary driver of high AHT. Friction is.
When friction dominates the interactions, no amount of coaching on speed will create meaningful improvements.
Agents regularly lose minutes - not seconds - to accomplishing tasks that have nothing to do with serving the customers:
- Authenticating callers multiple times and/or using long and drawn-out authentication processes.
- Navigating disconnected systems, searching for information that should be easy to find.
- Putting customers on hold to confirm answers they should already have or systems taking too long to navigate between screens.
As many agents put it in online forums, “The customer isn’t slowing me down. The systems are.”
From what I’ve seen, when call volumes rise and pressure mounts, the response is rarely systemic. Instead of fixing what’s slowing agents down, management tightens the levers closest to them - asking agents to talk less, hold less, and wrap up faster - without addressing why those delays exist in the first place.
When friction dominates the interactions, no amount of coaching on speed will create meaningful improvements. In fact, it often does the opposite: agents feel pressured, customers feel rushed, and repeat calls increase, thereby reducing first call resolution (FCR).
If organizations want to reduce handle time without damaging the experience, the first step is to stop treating AHT as an agent behavior problem and start treating it as a design problem.
Pacing Agent Cross-Training
Cross-training is often promoted as a quick way to improve the average speed of answer (ASA) and increase scheduling flexibility.
When done thoughtfully, this method can be effective. But when it becomes the default solution - especially for complex call types - it often leads to the opposite: longer handle times, lower FCR, and unnecessary transfers.
It is important to remember that not all queues are equal. Some require weeks of training due to regulatory requirements, complex workflows, or nuanced customer needs. In these cases, efficiency doesn’t come from breadth: it comes from depth.
A more sustainable approach is to build expertise first. New hires can begin in lower-complexity queues, followed by a structured nesting period with mentoring and coaching. Once performance stabilizes - reflected in quality scores, confidence, and consistency - additional queues can be introduced gradually.
When cross-training is paced correctly, centers see real benefits:
- Increased call variety without overwhelming agents.
- Clear development paths that support employee engagement.
- Improved occupancy without sacrificing resolution quality.
Problems arise when multiple complex queues are added too quickly. As a seasoned agent put it, being trained on everything can feel like being an expert at nothing.
Broader cross-training can still make sense for simpler, transactional queues with short learning curves. Even then, skill expansion should be driven by data: not coverage pressure.
Reviewing quality assurance (QA) scores, performance trends, and agent readiness before adding new skills helps prevent unintended increases in handle time.
Remove Friction Before the Agent Says Hello
One of the most effective - and underutilized - ways to reduce handle time is to redesign the steps that occur before the call reaches an agent.
1. Efficient Caller Authentication
Authentication is necessary, but how it’s handled matters. Many centers still require agents to reverify information the customer has already provided through the IVR or digital channel. This repetition adds time, frustrates callers, and puts agents in an awkward position, especially when agents over-verify.
What I mean by that: if a call center requires four elements for caller authentication, the agent could ask for five or six, thereby increasing handle time.
Routing calls based on why the customer is calling...can help reduce handle time.
When implemented correctly, pre-call authentication can:
- Reduce repetitive questioning.
- Shorten the opening minutes of calls.
- Allow agents to focus on the issues, not identity checks.
That said, agents are quick to point out that poor data quality or overly aggressive authentication rules can backfire. If verification fails frequently, agents end up troubleshooting the system rather than helping the customer.
The lesson is simple: pre-authentication should remove effort, not add it.
2. Self-Service Options
Also, identify the top reasons why customers call or message your center, and see if some relief can be added to your self-service options. Here is an article that can help.
3. Intent-Based Routing with Context
Routing calls based on why the customer is calling - rather than just availability - can help reduce handle time. When agents receive context about the callers’ intent, recent activities, or prior interactions, they spend less time diagnosing the problems and more time solving them.