At IC, we understand that launching an intranet is a very exciting time for your organization! What’s even more exciting is customizing your intranet so it’s an engaging space for your employees to gather resources, upload documents, keep up-to-date on company news, and learn about their colleagues. One of the key steps we’ve noticed for driving intranet adoption is selecting a name for your intranet. To increase adoption and engagement rates, your intranet name should be memorable and relatable to your employees. Generic intranet names such as CompanyConnect, CompanyNet, or simply ‘CompanyName’ do not inspire employees. Remember, with creativity comes a sense of community.
Below we outline 3 ideas for naming your intranet plus examples of 15 real client intranet names to use for inspiration.
Top 3 ideas for an intranet name:
1. Launch a Naming Contest
Having an intranet name helps employees identify and relate to your intranet, but it shouldn’t be created by just one person. If you want your employees to embrace your intranet, make them a part of the process! Include employees by launching an Intranet Naming Contest.
Many of our clients have found employees engage more with their intranet when they were a part of the naming process, such as New Seasons Market’s intranet – ‘The Pantry’ and Summit Funding’s “The Peak”.
To start launching your own intranet naming contest simply use the Idea Share Exchange (Suggestion Box) to solicit name ideas. Request ideas with some of the following things in mind:
- names that are friendly and catchy
- names that reflect the goals of your intranet
- including a tagline that explains the purpose of your intranet
Once you have collected enough names, plug them into a Quick Poll and let the voting begin. The intranet name with the highest votes wins!
2. Create a Persona
When it comes to your intranet, the design is important. Not only do you want your intranet to reflect your brand, but you want it to be relatable. One of the best ways to do this is by creating an intranet persona. For example; Pima Federal Credit Union’s intranet is named Dwight – the employee know-it-all, named after a character from the popular TV show The Office. This ‘persona’ resulted in a boost to engagement and intranet adoption rates for the organization. Employees will look to your intranet as a colleague who has all the information they need!
3. Establish an Acronym
If you really want to inspire employees to engage with your intranet, give it a name with meaning. At IC, we use an acronym to easily recall our core values; SPICE – Simplicity, Positivity, Integrity, Creativity, and Empathy. An acronym intranet name makes your intranet not only easy to remember but also brings the underlying purpose of your intranet to the forefront.
Oftentimes, an acronym can also be a persona, for instance: Veridian Credit Union selected VERN. VERN wears on-brand colored glasses and has the occasional bad hair day, but he also stands for Veridian Employee Resource Network. VERN has become a part of their organization as both a persona AND a name with deeper meaning. We liked VERN so much we titled him ‘The Ultimate Intranet Persona’.
TIP: Your intranet design isn’t just for aesthetics, it builds culture. Once you have named your intranet or established a persona, consider making small changes to the design that reflect the seasons, quarterly goals, holidays, and more.
15 Intranet Name Examples
Dwight
The Employee Know-It-All (Pima Federal Credit Union)
The Pantry
(New Seasons Market)
Insight
(InTouch Credit Union)
Fetch
(San Diego Humane Society & SPCA)
Orange
(Verity Credit Union)
VERN
Veridian Employee Resource Network (Veridian Credit Union)
The Goat
Technical Cashmere (Kit & Ace)
DivShare
(Diversified Search)
ICONIC
IC’s intranet *hint it stands for Internal Communication on IC
Horizon
(Homewood Health)
WALT
We Are Leech Tishman (Leech Tishman)
Voyager
(World Travel Holdings)
CityBizz
(City of North Vancouver)
The Watercooler
This one isn’t taken by anyone, but I love it!
Selecting your intranet software often take weeks, if not months, to find the perfect match for you and your organization. With IC Thrive, in only a matter of days, you can turn that out-of-the-box intranet into something that is uniquely yours by simply giving it the name it deserves! Have you named your intranet? We’d love to hear from you, contact us here.
Looking for more inspiration? Check out these awesome intranet design examples to inspire you even more when creating your intranet!
