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IBM Kenexa vs Workday comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Kenexa
Ranking in Benefits Administration
14th
Ranking in Talent Management
21st
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software (16th)
Workday
Ranking in Benefits Administration
1st
Ranking in Talent Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Cloud HCM (2nd), Talent Acquisition (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Benefits Administration category, the mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday is 20.1%, up from 19.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Benefits Administration
 

Featured Reviews

Karan Grover - PeerSpot reviewer
Suitable for larger-scale companies aiming to streamline and automate their processes digitally
The deployment of the solution took between six to eight months. When we introduced BrassRing at my company, we encountered several challenges. First, moving data from our old system to BrassRing was tough because it needed reformatting. Second, connecting BrassRing with our HR data was tricky due to manual processes for roles and departments. Third, setting up the workflow in BrassRing was complex. Fourth, configuring user access and approval levels was a detailed task. We also had to manage the change process, including running both old and new systems in parallel, communicating changes, and training users. Lastly, monitoring and reporting were needed to ensure data accuracy and proper system usage once everything was in place. We had a team of six to eight people managing the project from our side during the BrassRing deployment. I'm not sure about the size of the BrassRing team, and we also had our own technical team, which had three to four members. The solution required maintenance, particularly from my side as the administrator. Maintenance responsibilities were divided into two parts: some tasks we, as end-users, could control, while others were the responsibility of the BrassRing team. Payment-related tasks were a regular part of our responsibilities. I wasn't the only person maintaining the solution. There were three power users from Infosys, each responsible for a specific geography. My counterpart managed it in the US, and I, along with my colleague in India, managed it for other geographies.
Akash Nigam - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly, well-organized, offering a structured step-by-step process for configuration
I would really like to see a more robust timekeeping solution in Workday. Currently, most organizations are using Kronos for timekeeping and Workday for HR data. They then integrate Workday with Dimensions to manage time-related activities and payroll processing. I think if Workday could enhance its timekeeping solution to match the functionality and flexibility of Dimensions, it would be a really good product. Another area for improvement is payroll. Workday payroll is not very extensively used in the North American market, but it is more widely used in Europe. There is a lot of complexity in payroll processing in North America, but I think there is still a lot of room for improvement in Workday. In the next release, I would like to see pre-built or predefined connectors for Dimensions and other applications. Currently, we have to use Boomi or another middleware application to integrate Workday with these systems. I think pre-built connectors would be very helpful, especially for Dimensions, which we do not currently have a connector for.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The ease of scaling is one of BrassRing's biggest strengths, making it a trusted choice for large companies."
"The most valuable features are that we can upload documents and download them on demand."
"IBM Kenexa is fairly stable. We don't have any downtime."
"It is extremely user friendly. It is very flexible in managing recruitment, especially when you have thousands of applicants as we did. We easily had over 20,000 applicants within a year for some of our positions, so it made it very easy to manage a large application pool. It was very easy to customize by recruiter preference. When you open up someone's profile to see their experience, education, or other things, you can customize that for yourself. It was flexible in that, and each recruiter could set up their preferences. It didn't have to be set up so that everyone had to have the same landing platform, which was very helpful. As someone who trained other HR people on how to use the system, it was very easy to pick up and learn."
"It helps the users to enroll for the benefits automatically and update their life events without the involvement of HR individuals or back-office staff. It enables a person to take action on their own. It reduces the administrative burden on HR and puts the ownership on the person that is going through the life event, whether it is having a child, taking a leave of absence, or something else. There are easy ways to integrate Workday with your common benefits. At least in the USA, it can be integrated with common benefits providers such as Fidelity, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, etc. It has got a connector that is able to connect with the vendor or the third party to which you are trying to send the eligibility file. It basically allows us to automate or set up the tool, and the integration with the provider is a lot quicker than competing tools. When it comes to reporting on just eligibility and SLSA, it is a lot more user-intuitive. Depending on the purpose of what you are doing, you can grant security rights or roles, for example, you can control whether someone is a benefits administrator doing an independent audit. Workday makes it very easy to do that. It significantly simplifies the reporting process."
"In terms of customization, while it may not be fully customizable, you can configure the features based on the foundation that Workday offers. This allows you to take the basic features and tailor them to the specific needs of your company or business. It provides a lot of configuration flexibility."
"Performance and good usability are the two most valuable features of this solution."
"There is a lot of scope for customization with this solution"
"It is easy to use and straightforward."
"Workday is easy to use. Timesheet and resource management are also easy."
"The solution is easy to use and provides great flexibility and security."
"In the process of obtaining representative sites in NaviNet, it assists us in facilitating decision-making and taking action."
 

Cons

"It needs to update its reporting and analytics tools."
"The reporting tool is helpful, but it is not the easiest to train on or is not as understandable for other HR pros. Their Workbench site, which is the administrator site that you use to update your website, is not user-friendly. When updates are required, it is not that easy to manage because Workbench is not user friendly. It required more work from the admins. They have Workbench training, which actually was very unhelpful. It took eight hours to complete, and it was not very helpful. Their customer service when it comes specifically to their Workbench site is not helpful."
"I would like to have a better and more user-friendly interface."
"I would not recommend IBM Kenexa to others."
"My opinion is that this solution can improve the overall integrations and add more automation. I think anything that could be on a self-serve basis would work quite well."
"The implementation could have gone a little smoother."
"If you want to add more features to your subscription, Workday becomes expensive."
"The product must include payroll features."
"It is very unique as compared to other tools in terms of the employee master data and how it is organized. That's why sometimes the information needs to sit in two different systems because, in Workday, it is organized differently. This issue is not related to benefits. It is more or so related to how you categorize employees. I don't think this is a problem that could be solved. Workday is aware of this. It is one of those kinds of situations that you just got to live with."
"Analytical tools have needed improvement. Workday has just released Prism Analytics, to replace the current analytical tools, so it’s in the early stages."
"The navigation of Workday is good but could be better."
"The user interface could be better. Everything else was fine."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Kenexa was fairly priced. However, in 2019, before I left my previous organization, they significantly increased their pricing. It can be affordable, but their pricing is going up. It is not just licensing; it is how many applicants you have in your system on the database side."
"You have the license fee per module, and then you have a kind of annual training fee, which is a kind of add-on. I wouldn't say it is exhaustive; it is minor. Licensing is pretty transparent for most of the part."
"The pricing for this solution is fairly high. It is not affordable for small and mid-sized companies."
"With a bigger budget, I would recommend SAP."
"Its price is pretty high. It is more expensive than what is offered by other competitors in the market."
"The pricing is good from an HR perspective, although management gets upset after spending $500,000 a year, every year."
"It has an annual subscription rate, but I'm not sure how it will work."
"The solution is flexible in terms of pricing."
"I rate the product’s pricing a ten out of ten."
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842,466 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
32%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Kenexa?
The ease of scaling is one of BrassRing's biggest strengths, making it a trusted choice for large companies.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Kenexa?
As a large company, we first bought the complete BrassRing package, which had various features. Later on, we paid extra for specific features like customer test management. When we integrated with ...
What needs improvement with IBM Kenexa?
BrassRing needs improvement in a few areas. First, it should update how it tracks where candidates come from and avoid duplicate entries. Right now, it is not very flexible. Also, its way of making...
What are the biggest differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud and SAP SuccessFactors?
Differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud,w and SAP SuccessFactors:w Oracle: "simple interface and deep customization to suit the purpose." SAP: Multiple functionalities that increase process effi...
What do you like most about Workday?
I like its UI and UX. When we were using Oracle or SAP, the UI/UX wasn't very user-friendly for the employees.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workday?
If you go with the launch implementation approach, the solution is generally not very expensive. If you want to add more features to your subscription, Workday becomes expensive. The solution is fl...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sweet Spot International (SSI), Leo Burnett Worldwide (LBW), Sika AG, Legacy Health, Apollo Group Inc., Regeneron, Transurban Group, National Health Service, New Zealand Police, Overland Footwear, Yealands, Johnson Controls, Allscripts, Kerry Foods, Masterpet, AMD, Balfour Beatty
AAA, Allied Global, Avago Technologies Limited, Aviva, Cardinal Health, CareFusion, Chiquita Brands International, Equifax, Flextronics, HP, Life Time Fitness, McKee Foods, MGM Resorts International, Sanofi, ServiceSource International, Symantec, TripAdvisor, Yahoo!
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Kenexa vs. Workday and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,466 professionals have used our research since 2012.