IBM Kenexa Reviews

IBM Kenexa has a lot of room for improvement. The solution is not advancing anymore in terms of the user experience and in the workflows. It's pretty outdated right now.

We won't be expecting any further enhancements because we won't be investing in the solution anymore.

I have been using IBM Kenexa for more than 10 years. 

IBM Kenexa is fairly stable. We don't have any downtime.

I'm not sure whether or not IBM Kenexa is scalable. 

IBM Kenexa has poor tech support. 

I wasn't involved in the initial setup because it happened 10 years ago. However, I believe it is fairly straightforward.

The solution was deployed with the help of IBM. 

I'm not sure about the license cost. We have a yearly subscription.

I would not recommend IBM Kenexa to others. On a scale of one to 10, with one being the best and 10 being the worst, I would give IBM Kenexa a three. 

There are a lot of valuable features in Kenexa: being able to bring a lot of data together quickly; to be able to join the data; and then to be able to get insights in a time-frame that's a lot shorter than the regular SAS or process like that.

The biggest improvement for us is it's made us think; the outcomes coming out are something that we possibly wouldn't have thought about. The idea is to be neutral going into it, understand the types of insights that come out and to be able to pursue them as hypotheses; see if they make sense for us to continue with.

We're still putting our notes together on where we’d like to see improvements. We haven't got a detailed list yet, but the cool thing is we've got a process to document what we want changed, to promote that and show it to IBM. Most cases when we did that in the past, they've been able to say it was on the roadmap already. There are no examples right now, but we do have a list that we're gathering right now.

The price can always be better. I'm not saying the price is high, but of course I work with a budget. Bottom line is it's basically fine.

We're looking at ways to, for instance, to be able to get outputs, and drop it into Excel, if we want to. Right now, we can only do part of that, but not as much as I want to.

Stability has been fine. We've had some timeouts but they've been quickly fixed. Stability has been fine. There have been no issues at all.

It’s scalability is changing. At first, we had a problem getting a number of the transactions in there; now, that's changed. Every time we've had issues or problems, they've been addressed and have been fixed. We've got no problems with scalability or outages or anything.

We’ve used technical support, and it’s been great, fantastic. We have ways of submitting tickets if we need to. We've been updated on potential upgrades, etc. The support has been fantastic for us.

We were tired of thinking of what we wanted solved a year and a half in advance, because it took that long to get a project set up and get the budget approved and processed. The ability now to be able to take data, load it yourself, ask the business questions and get the answers on your own process with the business just made it a lot faster, and the cognitive solution gives us some insights for us to think about. It just made business sense in so many ways: time, money, etc.

I was involved in the initial setup. I've got a person by the name of Kevin Rush. He's been more on the technical side but as far as the setup, I was involved since day one. Initial setup took some time. Once the tool was set up for us to be able to use, it took a bit of hand-holding from IBM, but now we're at a place where we can load and link, and do a lot of things with it ourselves.

To set it up was tough, and when I say tough, it was more about learning for us, but we're laughing now with it, for sure.

Basically, we didn't consider any other solutions, because we've had such a long relationship with them and we did some work with them before this process. Our working agreement and their commitment to service didn't take us long to pick them.

Don't be afraid to start. The longer you wait, the more money you probably spend on new people leaving. The biggest thing is, if you're looking for faster ways of getting information about your people, about your customers, I would say start with what you have and to grow it. A lot of people are scared to start because they don't think they have enough information. Their information isn't big enough for this to use but the fact of the matter is you can use this on any kind of scale.

My rating is partly because I need to know more and learn more, and also I know there's some things on the roadmap they're looking to develop and once those come in, I think it's going to be even better. I love the idea that they have roadmap ideas. I love their support, but like all of us, we have a little bit of room to grow.

The two most important criteria for me when selecting a vendor are: 1) obviously, the product has to have some kind of nuts and bolts behind it; and 2) also the support. We've seen a lot of sales people come through, but after the deal is signed is when you see the true signs of how they're going to support us. For me, I'll look at the support people before I look at the sales people.

One of the best, possibly worst things if not controlled, is the configuration and permission control possibilities within the system. These possibilities provide the opportunity to automate and control processes that would otherwise be manual and/or not locked down. If you are not in control of your system, it can become a nightmare.

Prior to implementing Kenexa, our basic data quality was poor. We were unable to provide the required transparency to the business about recruitments in process, or empower them to take control of their approval processes. Now, having provided this, amongst many other things, we have a much closer relationship to the business.

Enhancement releases can't come fast enough, and you only know what is being released a week at most in advance. The documentation of the changes and configuration requirements are often following months after the initial release.

If you happen to be an early adopter of enhancements, it can be a frustrating process, as it is hard to decipher together with their support whether an issue is a bug or working as intended (a change in the way something works).

I have been using it for four years.

There was a two-year period after IBM bought Kenexa during which things were rough. But for the last two years, the system is quite stable - as long as you are in control of your own system.

Technical support is 7/10. Sometimes it is hard to make the first level of support understand basic issues, even if it is clearly documented.

Yes, we previously used a different solution. We switched because we placed as much weight on the vendor being a sparring partner, as much as providing a powerful system.

Initial setup was complex, but the system is! I wish that I had spent more time understanding what we were saying yes or no to.

We implemented it in-house. Take the time to understand what you are saying yes or no to. If a functionality is not available to you, and you are requested to log it as a RFE (Request for Enhancement) - there is little chance of it happening in the near future.

Two years after IBM bought Kenexa, we are really starting to see the system evolve for the better. It is the best ATS on the market, and IBM are one of the better vendors to work with.

I'm just taking over the account, so I'm still pretty new to the whole system. I would say the support that we get from the CSMs is the most valuable for me right now, because I'm still leaning on them pretty heavily to understand everything that I'm doing within the system.

I haven't dealt with it that long, but the obvious improvement is that the Applicant Tracking System has provided us a system to provide a better candidate experience as opposed to other systems. However, I'm not really sure regarding long-term impact, because I haven't been working with it for very long.

We're still on a pretty old version of it. I'm looking forward to using the mobile - the Responsive Apply – and upgrading to the Talent Suite. I think that's what I'm looking forward to mostly. I’m unable to really comment further without actually trying that out first, because that's mostly what we're aiming towards: getting that Responsive Apply, some of those more mobile friendly options.

It seems stable. I don't have any concerns about it.

I think it definitely has the potential to scale to more offerings and a larger scale within our business.

Technical support has been pretty responsive. It's been helpful.

Definitely get onboard with the newest released versions, to stay current with all the different offerings.

The most important criteria for me when selecting a vendor to work with are data security and ease of contracting. Those are our two big pain points.

My rating reflects the fact that I am still learning about the system and what it's capable of doing.

The most important features are that the instrument can be customized, that we can get important and relevant data about our employees, and the responsiveness of our client team from IBM has been phenomenal. It's been a real partnership.

It's given us data from which to make better decisions about what we need to do in order to have a highly engaged workforce. It's helped us specifically align the engagement information with business strategies and link addressing some of those issues to better business outcomes.

I don't know if the issue is what can be improved upon in upcoming releases. It's about understanding how we can adapt and be more flexible, because the survey that we've been doing is one of those point-in-time surveys and not real time. The minute we roll it out, the organization changes, and then all of a sudden there are issues such as, “This isn't my team. How am I supposed to manage this data?” There’s probably a solution that exists already with IBM or Kenexa. I'm just not that familiar with it.

The team didn't find the reporting tool that easy to use, in terms of pulling their own data, slicing and dicing it, combining groups. Some of them did, but for the most part, it felt like a bridge too far. With regard to our managers using it, the minute we saw that some of the HRBPs were having an issue with it, we didn't even dare suggest that our managers run their own reports.

As a platform, it is highly stable.

It is highly scalable.

I haven't personally used technical support. I think my team has.

I wasn't involved in the original decision to get Kenexa. I'm involved in our ongoing decision to remain with Kenexa.

I wasn't involved in the original setup.

For us, the decision isn't, do we use another solution? The question is really: Do we use a solution? It's not about another solution. Do we try and create something? Do we do something more informal? I think that the 2016 IBM HR summit convinced me that we need to continue to do some of the work we're doing, and maybe even get more sophisticated and work with IBM to do something more sophisticated than what we've been doing.

The most important criteria for me when selecting a vendor to work with is, in general, value for money. Their understanding of our business needs and how that solution really solves a business problem or helps us avoid one. Also, we look for a responsive, flexible partner, and that's what we have with our team, with IBM’s Rob Ball and the team in London.

Definitely consider it. I knew Kenexa before they were IBM, and at first I thought, "Oh no, here we go, get swallowed up by this big, mammoth organization." Now I think that being part of IBM just means that I've got a whole rich array of other things to choose from that can plug and play with some of the other solutions. I think there's been real value to having Kenexa be part of IBM, and I think the 2016 IBM HR Summit was one of them.

I think they've got a smart solution. I want to see what else we can do with Kenexa, and I think that they're part of an outstanding culture of customer service.

From an ATS perspective, I think the most valuable features are the ability to get candidates through the process quickly and cleanly, and to maintain OFCCP-compliant documentation.

We're able to adequately screen all of our candidates across the board through all different business units, and maintain accurate reporting and analytics as a result of that.

I would like to see them continue to make things easy and quick for the recruiting partners internally, or any recruiters who use the system. Faster load times would be great, instead of waiting for the little load window to close out.

It's been really stable the last couple of years. I've seen a huge improvement on the BrassRing Kenexa side to improve their network connectivity and systems overall.

Kenexa’s scalability has been great. We can grow and expand our use no matter what. Right now, we're doing a launch in Hillerod for a new manufacturing plant and we'll be able to seamlessly incorporate our business process for that launch.

I have used technical support sometimes. It's good. It's very responsive. I have a CSM, so I have personalized service, which is always great.

The decision to invest in Kenexa was made before I arrived at the previous company.

I was not involved in the initial setup of Kenexa at my current company. In a previous life, I was. It was a little rocky, as they always are, but we went live on time and that's all that matters.

I have not directly used any of Kenexa’s competitors.

Make sure it can fit your needs. Do a mapping and an outline of your end-to-end process, and make sure that BrassRing or Kenexa can meet those needs.
The most important criteria for me when selecting a vendor is compatibility with other systems; to be able to integrate seamlessly.

The most valuable features are its ease of use and the ability to customize it; making it really individualized for each company’s needs and each of our different business unit’s needs.

It has allowed us to reach more candidates, and in a quicker, simpler fashion to get the data we need to improve our hiring process.

I’d say the things that we’re most looking forward to that are on the roadmap are the mobile abilities that they’re coming out with and always improving on. We’re excited for those. When they have all the features we need with it, we’ll definitely implement it.

Some of the analytics that we heard about, we’re excited to see some of those and how we can implement and maybe use those in our business.

The reporting feature currently is our biggest struggle point. Getting the data we need and in the fashion that we need it is a current struggle point for us.

We use BrassRing and we’re implementing Onboarding soon.

I think it functions well and they’re always innovating and adding new features that we’re always implementing and making the process better.

I don’t see anything that we haven’t been able to apply it to. We work with basically, five unique different types of business functions in our company. I think it’s very far reaching.

Technical support is very helpful, thorough. They’re usually fairly quick, unless it’s a really complicated issue that no one can figure out.

I have not used similar solutions since I’ve worked here, except for onboarding; we currently use other companies for that.

Kenexa definitely has the customization. The system works however you build it to work; when you set it up, it’s going to work the way you set it up. Generally, if there is an issue, it’s not a Kenexa issue. It’s a setting you have or the way you originally set it up to make it do something. If there is an issue, I would get with whoever your agent is to see a better way to do what you’re wanting to do, rather than looking for another solution in another program or something like that.

The most important criteria for me when selecting a vendor to work with is whether their product can be used across our wide variety of business units effectively and customization, as well as follow-up support, trying to get features to work the way we want or it to work across those business units.

From everything I’ve seen and heard, I would think Kenxea is probably one of the top three, if not the best, in the business that they do and the things that we use them for. Not working with another company, it’s hard to really give them an accurate rating, but from everything we’ve seen, and all the support and work with them, I’d say I’ve given it a fair rating.

With IBM Kenexa BrassRing, we can search for past requisitions, we well as edit and open candidates’ talent profiles. The DIT reporting tool is extremely crucial in creating our own reports. The “my candidates” overview that shows the statuses is very helpful. I like the "Admin tool" with regards to communication templates and forms, and the ability to change them.

BrassRing integrates into our internal employee platform (workday) as well as our background check vendor (TalentWise). Without this solution, we would have more administrative functions and would need to hire more HR employees. This solution also allows for easier external communication with potential employees.

In regards to the requisition search function there is a ton of filter options, of which need exact matches. The other thing that is missing here is the Business Title option. For example a position will have the HR Job Title “environmental scientist 1” but the real business title field is “Biologist.” If I want to search for a biologist requisition, I have a tough time doing that because nothing comes up if I put it in the job description which really is my only other option of a field to use.

In regards to the errors - sometimes the HR Status will freeze, or the communication option.
The tool functions inconsistently. In the past year, there has been a significant increase in the amount of “internal errors” that are displayed.
Other errors include when you click to add a form for example it will come up with an error and you have to exit and try it again. What I was trying to capture here is that a lot of our recruiters have had problems with errors and having to do the same command/clicking the same thing multiple times before it works. In addition, the search function is a bit complicated in terms of requisition searches.

I have used this solution for three years.

We encountered IT stability issues in our attempts to get the pages to load. This occurred almost daily.

The technical support with IBM is very responsive. I don’t usually open tickets anymore, but in the past I was pleased with the technical support.

I would advise other customers to link this solution to your other systems for a streamlined ATS.