"When you speak with Kunik, you can tell they’re really trying to set up a true partnership. They spent time understanding our needs and objectives. We never felt like they were trying to push a pre-made solution onto us."
Steven Scott, Director of ID&E at Akamai
Learn how the team at Akamai, the world’s most distributed computing platform, utilized Kunik to run a leadership academy for ERG leaders, with the goal of driving impact and strengthening Inclusion, Diversity, and Engagement (ID&E) initiatives.
Overall, 31 ERG and ID&E leads participated in and completed the Academy.
Akamai offers cloud computing, security, and content delivery services to global companies that power and protect life online. Their Connected Cloud, a massively distributed edge and cloud platform, makes it seamless for businesses to develop and run apps and workloads.
Developing their employee resource groups (ERGs) has been a strategic priority for Akamai. Steven Scott, Akamai’s Director of ID&E, tells us his team wanted to provide a sense of community and a place for people to join the ID&E conversation. The company has grown from 2,000 to almost 10,000 employees in recent years, so they needed to restructure and strategize in order to realize this goal.
Going deeper, Magdalena Bukala, ID&E Manager II at Akamai, notes that they aimed to provide structured training through these ERGs to enhance leadership skills and improve employees’ abilities to make business impact.
An integral aspect of onboarding with Kunik was discovering exactly what Akamai needed — something Steven deeply appreciated. He notes that we never push pre-packaged solutions. In his words, the Kunik team “understood what Akamai’s needs were, listened, applied the knowledge, and created a strong foundation for the partnership.”
Magdalena says this approach and solution “set Kunik apart from competitors.” She loved both the look and the delivery of our ID&E content, and she appreciated the smaller details. For instance, Kunik sends pre-work information to folks who want to start brainstorming on the discussion topics before a formal Kunik Conversation. We also send out post-conversation summaries with contact information so employees can reach out directly with questions and keep the conversation going.
All the while, the Akamai team knew Kunik was listening attentively. If they didn’t vibe with the instructor or material of a class, they could send feedback that Kunik immediately acted on.
“We really had an impact on how classes were led, but also on who was leading them. We could always send feedback, and it would be immediately taken into account. I really appreciated the trust that we shared with Kunik.” – Magdalena Bukala, ID&E Manager II at Akamai
Kunik has helped the team at Akamai push the needle impressively in their company transparency and employee reception to ERGs. Leadership across ERGs at the business is far more engaged and collaborative than ever before.
Ultimately, Steven emphasizes that Kunik’s partnership has boosted Akamai’s credibility — a benefit that will only continue to increase their overall value.
Take a look at some of the trackable results for yourself.
“Bringing in external partners and resources from Kunik builds our credibility. That in and of itself is immeasurable because it shows our commitment to our leaders.” – Steven Scott, Director of ID&E at Akamai
The team at Akamai looks forward to continuing to partner with Kunik because they know that no matter what they ask for, the bespoke quality will always be there. They can hold an open call to express their pain points, and the Kunik team will quickly follow up with tailored solutions. That’s an extremely compelling partnership for any season of a company’s growth.