Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph –
Organizations throughout Joint Base San Antonio strive to better their services and products, but sometimes it is their customers' suggestions that provide the impetus for improvement.
An important way Department of Defense organizations such as JBSA solicit comments from their customers is through the web-based Interactive Customer Evaluation system. Better known as ICE, the digital version of the suggestion box allows customers to rate services and products and express their opinions.
"We've been using ICE since 2003," Shelta Reese, 902nd Force Support Squadron marketing director, said. "We encourage all our customers to give us feedback through this system."
According to the Defense Logistics Agency, ICE improves customer service "by allowing managers to monitor satisfaction levels through reports and customer comments." ICE allows customers to quickly and easily provide feedback to service provider managers, gives leadership timely data on service quality, allows managers to benchmark the performance of their service providers against other DoD organizations and encourages communication across organizations by comparing best practices to improve performance.
Reese said the 902nd FSS promotes ICE at JBSA-Randolph with kiosks at four locations - two at the Rendezvous Dining Facility, two in the foyer of the JBSA-Randolph Inn and one each at the Kendrick and Parr clubs. Customers can pick up cards at each activity that provides a link to JBSA-Randolph's ICE website.
"Using ICE is easy to do," Reese said. "Our customers can go home and complete the online comment card at their convenience. It's a chance for customers to have their voices heard."
In addition, the 902nd FSS' website features advertisements for ICE. Clicking on the advertisement takes the customer directly to the JBSA-Randolph ICE website, where there is an alphabetized list of service providers with broad categories, as well as a link for a more detailed list of service providers.
Each comment card allows customers to rate the service provider's customer service from "excellent" to "awful" in different categories and asks customers if they were satisfied with their experience. The comment card also provides a space for comments and recommendations for improvement.
Customers may also request a response from a service provider manager and list their name, phone number and email address if they desire.
Comment cards may also be accessed directly through the DoD ICE site, http://ice.disa.mil, where the Air Force CONUS link takes customers to a list of Air Force ICE sites and communities. JBSA-Randolph, JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, JBSA-Lackland and Air Education and Training Command are included on the list.
Reese said JBSA-Randolph's ICE site is monitored on a regular basis, and service provider managers respond to comments within three business days.
"We want people to tell us what they like and dislike about our services and products," she said. "Our goal is to improve customer service and what we offer them, and this is one of our mechanisms."