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RSA Archer vs Workiva Wdesk comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

RSA Archer
Ranking in GRC
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
IT Governance (1st), IT Vendor Risk Management (2nd)
Workiva Wdesk
Ranking in GRC
5th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Business Performance Management (11th), Financial Close Software (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the GRC category, the mindshare of RSA Archer is 16.7%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workiva Wdesk is 7.7%, up from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
GRC
 

Featured Reviews

Raviteja Nekkanti - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly, minimal learning curve and good for security assessment
My use case is for security assessment. It's my daily task. I use it for security assessment in Azure. We have tickets where users need to submit details about an application, computer, or server. For Archer, my direct task is to assess the security risk of an application, infrastructure, or…
Phillip Gough - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution is easy to deploy and enables collaboration, but it must improve its speed and enable users to create pivot tables
I rate the ease of setup an eight out of ten. The initial setup was straightforward. The solution is cloud-based. We deployed the product along with Wdata in six months. It was for a lot of use cases. To deploy the tool, we designed the use cases and developed them. Then, we went through unit tests, integration tests, and user acceptance tests. It was an Agile delivery cycle.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has various valuable features. For example, showing us if a control aligns with specific standards or frameworks helps us understand it better and verify its compliance."
"RSA Archer's best features are advanced workflow, reports, dashboards, and notifications."
"The most valuable features of RSA Archer are the asset management, risk management, and vendor management."
"The last project was for an investment group that was using Excel. Shifting their records from one position to another took approximately 15 minutes. In Archer, we created a workflow for them to leverage it, and they could send the single record with one click to one person within seconds. The whole process went from 15 minutes to two minutes to get the approval for the records. The main purpose of Archer is to just make it easy."
"Overall, I would give it a nine out of ten."
"The solution has helped our organization manage our internal and external activities."
"The integrated data model of a one-to-many/many-to-one relationship is quite useful."
"The solution has improved my organization by having everything combined to a single platform."
"It helps you to maintain a backup of your data, including the connectivity with the tables, which provides a user-friendly way to handle and access your files."
"Workiva Wdesk has a flow diagram that is standardized, making it easy for people to file documents on ECDAs, which are in HTML format."
"The cross-functionality between connectivity, whether through API connections between different software platforms or the connection of data collection to the actual written ESG report, is highly valuable. The connectivity of all these aspects significantly aids in data assurance, which I consider a bonus."
"It makes the compliance process more efficient and more effective."
"The collaboration within the platform is valuable."
"Workiva Wdesk is pretty good in terms of getting the data from the system, automating the reporting schedules...It has a very good integration with ERP tools."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to easily upload and update financial results, creating a dynamic data sheet."
 

Cons

"If you need to integrate the RSA products with another SEIM solution, then it doesn't work properly."
"The technology's a little outdated."
"The bullet chart is the best graph for my purposes, and it should be available for inclusion in the dashboards."
"The first improvement I would suggest for RSA Archer is a better search feature. The search criteria needs to be improved. Sometimes I do a search and the search doesn't return the exact item I'm looking for. RSA Archer could also be improved by being more user-friendly. Maybe I have been using a limited version of RSA Archer, but I'm not sure whether it has ESG, environmental and social governance. In the next couple of years, ESG is the next feature that will be integrated into GRC tools. I would recommend RSA Archer adds ESG."
"Some of the error reporting isn't very clear. When you're looking for information on error codes, you got to do a lot of digging."
"It would be useful for customers if COBIT 2019 could be translated into different languages."
"The solution as a whole could be simplified."
"It's resource-hungry, that's the best way of putting it."
"Regarding the solution, reporting has certain areas that can be considered for improvement."
"One area where Workiva Wdesk could improve is by ensuring that its cloud-based system is fully compatible with the most current versions of PowerPoint and Excel."
"With this product, it's more about the integrated data model where you can have a one-to-many/many-to-one relationship between your policies and processes, risks, and controls. They need to showcase how you can put those pieces together."
"The speed must be improved."
"At this point, I don't see a compelling reason to invest in Workiva. It may be necessary for compliance and controlling the version of SCC, but not everyone needs its high-end capabilities."
"The most critical issue is the need to shift between uppercase and lowercase."
"The tool's script encoding needs to be updated to make it more user-friendly and less of a manual process when changes are made to a company's program. Those changes happen frequently due to mandatory or voluntary reporting requirements, leading to lost linkage connections that must be manually reset each time a change is made. This aspect is not functional now, and I see it as an opportunity for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not expensive. It is reasonable. We only pay for the licensing."
"RSA Archer's price is justifiable and not as expensive, compared to ServiceNow. I have heard that the licensing for ServiceNow is much more expensive. I'm unaware whether there are any additional costs after licensing fees."
"Fairly highly-priced, especially for smaller companies."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
"The license is costly for the solution, but the remaining set up and maintenance is quite cheaper."
"The price of the solution is very affordable."
"The price of RSA Archer is good. The price isn't too high considering it is a leading tool in the market."
"The initial purchase is cheap. You pay a nominal price to start then renew the license annually. You also must buy a license for each module. I'm not too fond of that aspect of the licensing model. You buy the elephant and then spend more money to feed the elephant."
"Our clients in Asia think that the solution is too expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
55%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
5%
Government
3%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Educational Organization
16%
Computer Software Company
8%
Insurance Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about RSA Archer?
It has various valuable features. For example, showing us if a control aligns with specific standards or frameworks helps us understand it better and verify its compliance.
What needs improvement with RSA Archer?
The user interface needs work. There are many small text boxes, like credit card size's boxes, where we need to input a lot of text. You can't see what you're typing beyond the tiny window, so you ...
What is your primary use case for RSA Archer?
We primarily use the system control module and specific IT control models for ongoing risk assessment activities. We use it on a day-to-day basis.
What do you like most about Workiva Wdesk?
The most valuable feature is its ability to easily upload and update financial results, creating a dynamic data sheet.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workiva Wdesk?
Wdesk is affordable and as far as I'm aware, there were no additional costs beyond the standard license increase. We didn't have to make any other changes; it primarily involved accessing the platf...
What needs improvement with Workiva Wdesk?
The tool's script encoding needs to be updated to make it more user-friendly and less of a manual process when changes are made to a company's program. Those changes happen frequently due to mandat...
 

Also Known As

Archer
Wdesk
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

T-Systems, Bridge Point, Equifax, First Data, Global Imaging Company, Manulife Financial
Noodles Company, eBay, Winnebago, American Assets Trust, AmericanEnterprise, Calpian, Capstone Infrastructure, Cascades, Circor International, Coeur Mining, Davey, Dr Pepper Snapple
Find out what your peers are saying about RSA Archer vs. Workiva Wdesk and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.