System and method to improve self-service operation in a contact center, the method including: determining a characteristic of the new customer contact; determining a characteristic of an existing customer contact; determining a communication delay latency between an assignment engine and a contact center agent; determining a time to assign the new customer contact to the contact center agent, wherein the time to assign is made in a predetermined amount of time in advance of receiving a ready indication from the contact center agent, the predetermined amount of time determined from the communication delay latency.