Using competitor products in the office

EliotG said:
I knew there would be one. Go and troll somewhere else.
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A troll for pointing out an obvious fact?

Am I supposed to pretend that Nokia are doing well in the marketplace? :confused:

I'd have thought the most obvious place to be convinced of the benefits of a product would be within the company itself. Oh, and they can actually have one for free?? and still don't choose one? OMG.
 
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We've sold software to a company that owns a direct competitor of ours... the direct competitor was in the bidding process too and our management actually had to seek assurances from the parent company that they were seriously considering us and not just going through the motions/having another party to the bidding process for the sake of it.

Not sure how the guys at the other software co felt when they lost the bid - must suck a bit for your parent company to choose a competitor's software over your own.
 
I don't see an issue with this - at all. It's an argument that can't apply equally to all companies either. Just because someone works for a certain company doesn't mean they can afford to own what that company makes/sells (such as your car example).
 
A lot of banks make their employees use their bank account so I don't think this is any different conceptually.

However, using another product may improve your knowledge of your own products strengths/weaknesses. This can only help you if you are supporting the product, developing it or selling it.
 
Another one from Farnborough! -_- :p

There isn't an issue using competitor products at my work... however people usually get mocked for lolz if they do happen to be seen using competitor products :o
 
Employees should be encouraged to use the companies own products. If I was a Nokia sales guy and turned up with an iPhone, what is the prospect likely to think?
 
Basher said:
Employees should be encouraged to use the companies own products. If I was a Nokia sales guy and turned up with an iPhone, what is the prospect likely to think?
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Sure for a salesmen and maybe board members but you imply all staff. Why should the cleaner have to own a Nokia?
 
Does not matter imo.
Nice that the company offer you a free phone, you do not have to take it, but maybe they should ask people that do not take it why they do not, use that as an opportunity to find negatives in their product.
 
Basher said:
Employees should be encouraged to use the companies own products. If I was a Nokia sales guy and turned up with an iPhone, what is the prospect likely to think?
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I imagine the encouragement is there in the form of free/discounted stuff, but that 'encouragement' shouldn't turn to policy unless it's a customer-facing role e.g. sales like you say.
 
estebanrey said:
Sure for a salesmen and maybe board members but you imply all staff. Why should the cleaner have to own a Nokia?
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The cleaner probably won't have a phone contract.

Surely all employees should have belief in the product the company is taking to market? Pretty much everyone has the ability to influence sales and using a competitor device in the office doesn't help.
 
I think it depends what you do. If you're a company like Nokia, it's pretty difficult to say "don't go out and buy these popular consumer products" to your staff. Similarly, if Apple said "no Microsoft PCs or Android phones", I'm not sure that staff would be too happy.

Conversely, I can understand why banks force their employees to have one of their accounts. They don't say that that account has to be their only one, merely that they need to have one of their accounts to allow them to understand their product better.
 
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