Counting the hours agents give back
A simple way to know whether an agent is worth keeping.
It is easy to feel that an agent helps. It is more useful to know by how much. You do not need a finance model, only three numbers and a week of patience.
1. Time per run, by hand
Time the task once or twice the old way, start to finish, including the time spent looking for things. Be honest; the real number is usually higher than the guess.
2. Runs per week
Every run is in the agent's history, so this part is free. Multiply it by the time per run and you have the hours handed back.
| Agent | Minutes by hand | Runs a week | Hours back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead routing | 6 | 140 | 14 |
| Support triage | 3 | 320 | 16 |
| Friday report | 90 | 1 | 1.5 |
3. Time spent checking
Subtract the minutes someone still spends reviewing the agent's work. In the first week this is high, and it should fall quickly. If it does not, the brief needs another pass.
Rule of thumb: an agent that still needs checking after a month is doing the wrong job, not doing the job wrong.