Using competitor products in the office

Skilid

Skilid

Skilid

Soldato
Joined
20 Sep 2006
Posts
2,828
Location
Hampshire
There is somewhat of a split opinion in our office at the moment on whether staff should be using products made by the company they work for, or whether they should just be able to use whatever they want.

For instance, as some of you know, I work for Nokia. I personally use a Lumia 620 and 820. I love them, I think they are great. However, a lady that sits near me has just bought an iPhone 5 on contract, even though she can use a Lumia for free. She doesn't not like the Lumias, she just prefers using an iPhone I guess.

One of my colleagues thinks that everyone in the office should be forced to use a Nokia, and shouldn't be allowed to use anything else. I on the other hand, think it should be completely up to the individual what they use. I personally don't care who uses what, just so long as they know how to use one of our own products in case anyone were to enquire about them.

What is your opinion on this? I guess it could go for almost any company. For instance if an ATi employee was using an nVidia GPU, a Jaguar employee was driving a BMW, a Samsung employee bought a Sony Experia, or a Rolex employee wore a watch by Police or something...

Discuss.

EDIT: I would like to clarify they do not force us to use their own products, they just give everyone one to use.
 
Last edited:
EliotG said:
There is somewhat of a split opinion in our office at the moment on whether staff should be using products made by the company they work for, or whether they should just be able to use whatever they want.

For instance, as some of you know, I work for Nokia. I personally use a Lumia 620 and 820. I love them, I think they are great. However, a lady that sits near me has just bought an iPhone 5 on contract, even though she can use a Lumia for free. She doesn't not like the Lumias, she just prefers using an iPhone I guess.

One of my colleagues thinks that everyone in the office should be forced to use a Nokia, and shouldn't be allowed to use anything else. I on the other hand, think it should be completely up to the individual what they use. I personally don't care who uses what, just so long as they know how to use one of our own products in case anyone were to enquire about them.
.
Click to expand...

Say to him/her '**** off you fascist biatch'. Also tell him/her you believe in freedom of choice.
 
If she is happy to pay for a iphone rather than use a free nokia then more fool her lol. I am a firm believer in the way some nationalities look after their own in the same sense that Finnish people only buy nokia mobiles as they are looking after a Finnish company.

However it should be optional not mandatory!
 
If work are providing you with a phone for work purposes then use what they give.
If you are allowed your own phones then do as you prefer.

Oh, plenty of staff who work for car makers drive different cars. Not all are at a grade where company car, or discounted purchase schemes, are worth having.
 
Employees can't be forced to buy a certain product just because they work for the company; if Nokia in your case supplied everybody in the office with a Lumia then they could ask employees to only use that phone on the premises.

It's not uncommon for employees to buy their company's products as they probably get a discount, however I guarantee that BMW's factory car park does not solely consist of BMWs.
 
Only an issue if non-employees come to your office.

There was a notice around work that we shouldn't have products advertising competing products such as mousemats, posters, decorative desk things etc.

Its a nice benefit to get a free phone but shouldn't be a contractual requirement.
 
If the product in question is provided by the company, e.g. a company mobile phone, it would be a bit of an own goal if they provided you with competitor products. But for personal effects I can't see how an employer has any authority, moral or otherwise, to dictate what brand of products their employees use. Providing an incentive to use their own product (free use of a Lumia, as per your example) seems perfectly reasonable, however.
 
Everyone is given a phone and a contract. I personally have a separate contract for personal use but still use a Lumia.

We're not forced to use anything, it's just that some have the view that nothing else should be used on the premises. Which I don't agree with.
 
I was chatting to the boss of a very big company last week who's had a competitors system installed at their house. Because its better.
 
If you work for a company that produces a viable product in a specific field common sense would suggest that supporting the company that pays your wages is probably a desirable thing to do. That said if the product is not provided by the company then to each their own.

An exception should be if you have a customer facing role. I'm afraid a Nokia rep telling me how good Nokia devices are is going to get 0.0001% of my time if I know they personally use an iPhone/HTC//something else. Why would I buy it if even the companies own employees think there are better alternatives?
 
Last edited:
Macro said:
An exception should be if you have a customer facing role. I'm afraid a Nokia rep telling me how good Nokia devices are is going to get 0.0001% of my time if I know they personally use an iPhone/HTC//something else. Why would I buy it if even the companies own employees think there are better alternatives?
Click to expand...

I see your point, but no matter how many people work for a company there will always be at least one person that either wants to be different, or can't be bothered to learn how to use different devices compared to what they're used to or whatever.
 
I would use a Lumia if it was free... Maybe I'm just cheap!

However the bloke that thinks you should be forced to should defect to North Korea... he would like it there :p
 
Unless they're a rep or the like they should be able to use what they want.

Hell you see Microsoft and google using Mac's when they have their own products.
 
True enough, but I think you have to be grown up enough as an employee to think about the message you send when you use a competitors product. I can't imagine iPads going down well in a meeting at Google or a Surface at a meeting at Apple either.

Having said all that it will also depend on your job, if you work shifts in a contact centre and are just plain working for the money with no aspirations within the company or loyalty to it then you're not going to feel you should colour your personal preferences to fit in with the company. You just go there to earn the cash to go do something else.

If you want to build a career or are reasonably senior/customer facing using a competitors product if you have a decent alternative provided by your company seems a little naïve.
 
Is the contract with a different network so she can get signal at home or similar reason?

The Google thing isn't comparable - Nokia only make two ecosystems (and one is ship and forget) and their development is centred on windows phone completely. Google support every ecosystem going, Chromium laptops are sub 0.01% of their market.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom