Queue Time

What is queue time?

The average time in queue is the length of time that callers spend waiting to speak with an agent. Customers who face long wait times are more likely to cancel calls and never call again. This is a lost opportunity to engage with your customer to guarantee their satisfaction, support your brand, and possibly upsell. 

In general, queue time covers the time before work that adds value to a product is completed. In most manufacturing companies, queue time accounts for about 90% of the overall lead time. Queue time is most often induced by overproduction and responsible for the bulk of the lead time in a value stream in many cases. Excessive queuing comes at a high price tag.

Importance of reducing queue time

Excessive average time in the queue can indicate inadequate staffing levels during rush hours, high agent absences or inadequate schedule adherence, and a lack of customer-centric functionality such as skills-based routing and queue callback.

One of the most effective ways to minimize lead time is to eliminate queue time. Look for the source of the line and try to remove it. Lack of space can cause bottleneck queues, which can be solved by adding more capacity or changing the method to increase throughput.