Give your intranet some personality

Intranet Names – Choosing a name

For many years (since at least 2008) I have banged on about how important it is to create an identity or brand for an intranet (or whatever your communication, collaboration and content workspace platform is, regardless of whether it is built with SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, a CMS or something else, or all the above); something that both reflects its purpose and also lets your staff refer to it in an easy and unambiguous way.

Increasingly intranet are being personified with people names, such as Eve

An intranet’s identity probably should be sexy and evocative. It shouldn’t really talk about anything ‘techie’, such as SharePoint, since a good intranet is not about the technology but about the business, the processes it supports and the sense of community and assurance it engenders.

Some names intranets lack any identity (‘Welcome to the Royston Vasey intranet’ – dull!) or unimaginative (‘TeamNet’).

Some reflect the organisation’s identity; at Cloud2 ours was ‘Cloudbase’ – which both referenced our name and was a fun, geeky reference to a Gerry Anderson series; meanwhile CapitalOne used ‘OnePlace’, which is less fun but presumably works for them.

Others convey a sense of what they try to do – Connect is a common one; others I like are ‘Flow’, ‘MySocrates’ and ‘The Bridge’.

Often (with my blessing, for what that’s worth) intranets are given people names; Birmingham Women’s Hospital call theirs ‘Eve’, while NHS England named their enterprise intranet ‘BoB’ (Business or Banter). NHS South East CSU went with SUSI. I like people names as it provides an identity that is easy to relate to and promotes a personality. It also allows phrases such as “check with Bob” or “ask Eve”, or “I’ll see what Susi knows”; these are very human phrases and brings the tool into the team rather than being just another technology foisted on staff.

Some names are just plain weird (but catchy): ‘Elvis’, ‘moma’, ‘BRAIN’ and ‘The Fridge’!

Whatever you go with, communicate it, engage people in it and make it stick. Names have power. So don’t just call it “The intranet”

Names have power. Don’t just call it “The intranet”

Selecting a name

Even the process of choosing a name is valuable. It helps you think about the purpose of your digital workspace and the culture of your organisation. It also should form an important part of the user engagement activity.

Many organisations run a competition, with a prize for the name which is ultimately selected. Doing so forms part of the communication plan for staff, creates a sense of excitement, engagement and the so-important feeling of ownership. A leading global clinical research company had over 30% of their staff worldwide respond to the naming competition; this level of response in an organisation is a rare and precious thing.

Cool names

In no particular order or for any good reason, I like these (though number 7 isn’t what it was):

The Fridge

CentralStation

Skynet

VIOLA

Alexandria

Eve

BORIS

The Well

Minerva*

The Hive

* aka the Goddess of Knowledge

Names used by existing intranets

Here are intranet names that might inspire you, or cause you to wince. I’ve indicated what I think.

Name	Company	Year	My rating
The Hive	Synexus Clinical Research	2017	***
SUSI	South East CSU	2015	***
BoB	NHS England	2014	***
Eve	Birmingham Women’s NHS Trust	2013	***
The Intranet	Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust	2013	*
Connect	Sandwell and Birmingham Hospitals	2012	**
Kingsdocs	Kings College Hospital NHS Trust	2012	**
Clubhouse	American Golf	2012	**
Grapevine	Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital	2011	***
TeamNet	Berkshire Shared Service	2012	*
TurazNet	Turaz	2012	*
Compass	Waterstone’s	2012	**
iConnect	Coca-Cola	2012	*
K Net	Kettering General Hospital	2011	*
Orchard	Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT	2010	***
UKi (UK intranet)	HSBC UK	2010	*
TheBridge	Humber Mental Health Trust	2009	**
iWeb	ebay	2009	*
Adiweb	Adidas	2009	*
Staffroom	Wandsworth PCT	2008	**
InKA (Intranet des Kantons Aargau)	Kanton Aargau	2008	***
Schweb	Charles Schwab Corp.	2008	***
the tube	IDEO	2008	**
Staff Room	City of Plymouth (UK)		**
BRAIN (aka Berger Research And Information Network)	Roland Berger Strategy Consultants	2008	***
Insite	BDO Stoy Hayward	2008	**
Elvis	Amcor Flexibles	2008	**
360°	Investors Group	2008	*
Pitstop	Mercedes Benz	2008	***
Horizon	London Borough of Hillingdon	2008	**
Milkyway	Fonterra (a milk company)	2008	***
Max	ANZ Bank	2008	**
CentralStation	Government of Victoria (AUS)	2008	**
Oneplace	CapitalOne	2008	**
The Hub	AMP	2008	**
BC World	British Council	2008	**
Dimension	March of Dimes	2008	**
Saltire	Scottish Government	2008	**
Homeport	Travelport	2008	***
Plaza (old), Lighthouse (new)	DHV	2008	***
floW	Wolf Theiss	2008	**
Gateway	BBC	2008	**
K.I.S. (aka Keep it Simple)	Printing Company	2008	***
Momentum	undisclosed	2008	**
Energy	Energy Company	2008	**
The Fridge	Victorian State Library	2008	**
IMS – Information Management System	undisclosed	2008	*
Intrapeze	Trapeze Group	2008	*
Access MCD	McDonalds	2007	*
BORIS	City of Casey (Australia)	2007	***
COMNET	Commerzbank	2007	*
CrewNet	Vanguard Group	2007	*
e-touch	Cablecom	2007	*
eXpress	Northland Regional Counicl (Australia)	2007	**
Greenport	Gruner + Jahr	2007	**
justiz online	Justizministerium NRW	2007	*
KnowledgeNet	PA Consulting	2007	*
moma	Google	2007	***
My Intranet	Siemens Medical Solutions (Med AX)	2007	*
MySocrates	General Motors	2007	**
NG Insider	National Geographic Society	2007	**
RedNet	Schweizerische Mobiliar Versicherungsgesellschaft	2007	*
Sparsh (“to touch” in Sanskrit)	Infosys Technologies Limited	2007	**
TrellNet	Trelleborg	2007	*
Violin (aka Volvo Group Information Online)	Volvo	2007	***
w3	IBM	2007	*
WoW (World of WestLB)	WestLB	2007	**
you AND me	Deutsche Telekom	2007	**
Fidelity Central	Fidelity	2006	**
BeNet	Bertelsmann	2006	*
iCON	Canon Australia	2006	**
MyALPHA	ALTANA Pharma AG	2006	**
EUROnet	EURO Kartensysteme GmbH	2005	*
RAIweb	Raiffeisen	2005	*
7net	Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago	2003	*
Abbott Wide Web	Abbott	2003	*
Cisco Connection Online	Cisco	2003	*
Ventana	Verizon	2003	**
SPARKLE (aka System Providing Access to Research, Knowledge, Learning & Education)	De Beers	2003	***
AGENT	Government of Alberta	2001	**
MyKGN	Ketchum	2001	*
VIOLA (Vogel Intranet OnLine Account)	Vogel Medien	2000	***
The Wave	Williams & Wilkins	1998	***
EUROPAplus	European Commission	1995	*
msw	Microsoft		*

List of names

And if you are really stuck, here is a list of a few hundred names that have been suggested for an intranet recently. Make of them what you will.

Final Thoughts

Names are important. So is the welcome message… try to avoid anything that starts “Welcome to…” it’s unimaginative, hackneyed and conveys nothing. Better to say nothing than say that. Express your intranet’s personality with campaigns, news graphics, photographs and content instead.