How HashiCorp leveraged Indi to measure ERG membership, grow their ERG foundation, and reinforce key processes.

Indi puts in the same level of effort into us and our program that we do. It’s hard to remember what it was like managing our program before Indi and definitely can’t imagine what it would be like without it.

Arielle Watkins

Senior PM, Engagement, Inclusion & Diversity

Summary

Needs

Scaling the foundation of the ERG program, since ERGs had only existed for a few months
Standardizing processes while tailoring certain workflows to each growing ERG
Measuring membership participation, to help optimize engagement tactics
Understanding industry best practices and trends for similar-sized companies

Results

Used Indi engagement tracking to create plans that grew average active ERG members by +100% each year for three years straight
Helped increase weekly active ERG leaders by +200% since launch
Saved 10 hours per week on membership management and engagement analytics
Streamlined setup and management of 9 Global ERGs with rapidly growing membership lists
Provided 5 case studies to support DEI team’s key strategic pitches

About HashiCorp

Founded: 2012

Headquarters: San Francisco, CA

Revenue: $583 million USD (2024)

Company Size: 2,200 (2024)

Number of Global ERGs: 9

Company Description: HashiCorp helps organizations automate hybrid cloud environments with a unified approach to Infrastructure and Security Lifecycle Management.

Context

HashiCorp, a leader in cloud-based developer tools and provisioning software, thrives on a culture of creativity and inclusion. When it came to its newly-formed ERGs, the DEI team realized that they needed a way to support the unique and creative programming of each ERG while creating standardized processes to guide them. The tool also needed to measure the output of all the incredible work each ERG leader was doing.

In 2021, HashiCorp, led by Arielle, decided it needed to find a robust tool that could help empower ERG leaders, reinforce key budget and activity processes, surface key insights around membership, and provide industry case studies and best practices.

“Before implementing Indi, our ERG program manager was manually managing and tracking our ERGs. They had to create templates from scratch, keep spreadsheets for managing events and budgets and create folders to keep data from each group separate and organized.”

After seeing the Indi platform and learning about the unique customization process, HashiCorp selected Indi’s ERG management platform. Key differentiators included Indi’s budget planning and tracking, analytics capabilities, customizations, case studies, and dedicated consultant.

Needs

Prior to implementing Indi, HashiCorp leaned on a combination of manual methods and disparate software products to manage their ERGs. None of these processes were efficient or directly helpful for measuring key initiatives or addressing the different nuances of each growing ERG. They also made the effort of managing ERGs time-consuming, highlighting the need for a tool that empowered leaders and DEI team members.

“Before using Indi, a lot of our ERGs would plan overlapping activities and have minimal participation. It was a frustrating pain point for everyone involved...Indi helped inspire our leaders to begin collaborating with each other to plan more activities together and streamline event planning.”

Results

Analytics for benchmarking and creating business cases

Indi’s analytics tools quantified total membership participation and active member overlaps, helping HashiCorp’s ERG leaders see the value in cross-collaboration and calendar optimization, implementing successful programming tactics that grew average active ERG members by +200% per year.

“Indi helped us to track exactly how many members were a part of our communities, how many unique members we had and how many were members of more than one group. Sharing this business case with our ERG leaders, not only changed their perspective on the impact of planning overlapping events, but also inspired them to begin collaborating with each other to plan more events together.”

Empowering leaders through customizations

In addition to standardizing key processes like budget and event planning, Indi worked closely with HashiCorp's ERG leaders and DEI team to make updates to the tool to ensure it was most helpful for them. From launch to June 2025, weekly active ERG leaders have grown +200%.

“From the very first meeting and every interaction since, Indi has made our team and our leaders feel valued, seen, respected and heard. When we meet with them, we always feel like our concerns, challenges, excitements and suggestions are valued. Then, when we see the output of our platform, we know that they heard us and took the feedback we shared seriously.”

How would you describe what it’s like to partner with Indi?

"Overall, our partnership with Indi allows us to support our ERGs and our employees in a meaningful way. The platform encourages them to be independent and create unique experiences and communities where every employee feels like they have somewhere where they belong at our company."

How valuable have the case studies and dedicated Indi consultant been to your success?

"We enjoy having a dedicated consultant to work with our leaders and support us through our Indi journey. Having a partner who was once an ERG leader himself, really made a difference to our ERG leaders."