Contact handle time is the average time that an agent spends on an inbound contact, including talk time, chat time, wrap time, and after call or after chat work time (ACW). For non-live contacts, such as email, voice mail, and faxes, the contact handle time is the average time that an Agent spends working on the contact before escalating or closing out the ticket. Please note that contact handle time is not the same as mean time to resolve (MTTR). MTTR, sometimes called cycle time, is the average elapsed time from the beginning of an incident or service request, until the ticket associated with the incident or service request is closed out. So while the total handle time for an incident may be only 10 minutes, unless the ticket is resolved on first contact the MTTR will be longer than the handle time. In fact, the MTTR can be substantially longer than the handle time depending upon how much after call work is required to resolve the issue, and whether the ticket is escalated to another level of support for resolution. Why it’s Important To continue reading, you must become a member. Membership is free and sign-up only takes a moment. Click the sign-up button below, complete the short form and checkout. No credit card is required and your membership never expires! Sign Up Already a member? Login