First response time (FRT)
The elapsed time between a customer submitting a request and receiving the first human or automated response to it.
In more detail
First response time measures how long a customer waits for the first reply after they reach out. It matters disproportionately because the initial wait shapes the customer's perception of the whole interaction, acknowledgment that someone is on it reassures, while silence breeds frustration regardless of how good the eventual resolution is.
It is frequently a committed SLA target, and it is distinct from resolution time. A fast first response does not require solving the issue immediately; it requires acknowledging and engaging quickly. Because the first response can often be triggered automatically, it is one of the more tractable support metrics to improve.
Where this shows up at Ceven
Ceven can drive first response time down by reacting to an incoming request the instant it arrives as an event-triggered workflow, acknowledging, triaging, and where appropriate answering from the knowledge base, rather than waiting for an agent to notice. Consequential replies can pass through a human-approval gate, and the timing is recorded in the audit trail.