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IBM Kenexa vs Workday HCM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 21, 2026

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
16th
Ranking in Talent Management
17th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software (9th)
Workday HCM
Ranking in Benefits Administration
1st
Ranking in Talent Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Cloud HCM (2nd), Talent Acquisition (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Benefits Administration category, the mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 1.9%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday HCM is 9.0%, down from 18.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Benefits Administration Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Workday9.0%
IBM Kenexa1.9%
Other89.1%
Benefits Administration
 

Featured Reviews

Karan Grover - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
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.
Eslam Abo Elnaga - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior people and systems analyst at B_labs & Mylo
Has improved HR process efficiency through intuitive workflows and responsive support
There is something that could be improved in Workday, specifically in the time tracking module. While I am not working on Workday now, I was a regional HRIS working for Egypt, Malta, India, and China. I mention these countries to relate to high population countries and companies. In our company, we use assigned work schedules for our teams. Because we work with the time tracking module, we need to assign shifts. In the manufacturing industry, we might need to change shifts every day or week. Manufacturing teams are huge, approximately 50 to 200 people in one team. If this team has one leader, the leader needs to assign a work schedule for each person individually. While there is mass upload functionality where we can load shifts for all people or specific groups, we need to select multiple people and assign them to a schedule from the interface itself. I have requested this functionality many times. When extracting business processes awaiting actions report, I can select different processes in one box, hit okay, and the report comes up. However, the same functionality does not work for work schedule assigning. If implemented, it would help many people in companies with high populations and big teams.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like how we can copy a req as we have many duplicates, which saved a lot of time when opening reqs."
"The ease of scaling is one of BrassRing's biggest strengths, making it a trusted choice for large companies."
"It allowed for truly global listing for all open positions."
"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."
"For us in particular, I love how configurable the system is; I can use the same technology for different parts of my business."
"As I said, IBM are doing a great job with us at the moment, but we're always looking and speaking and open to having conversations with other people because the market's changing and IBM are aware of that."
"I think one of the biggest benefits that Kenexa brings is the scalability."
"We use the Viewpoint and that is an absolutely powerful tool; it is extremely helpful to get more insights, and to start a conversation with our employees to grow and improve."
"Since adopting Workday, we have reduced HR administrative processing time by 45%."
"The product is useful for storing employee records."
"It is fairly easy to set up"
"It's a fully consolidated system. All the transactions and configuration are co-located in one fully in-memory system, so there is no need to go to different data sources (multiple DBs) to pull data; it’s all in one place."
"I like its UI and UX. When we were using Oracle or SAP, the UI/UX wasn't very user-friendly for the employees."
"The user interface is good and very easy to use."
"I would say that we have definitely seen a return on investment."
"The reporting feature is quite easy for a layman to use, and the look and feel of the application is good. Its security is robust. You will never find a use case that cannot be covered."
 

Cons

"2xO was created by brain-damaged monkeys in front of keyboards."
"My rating is not higher because of the support, honestly; the global service center model."
"It needs to update its reporting and analytics tools."
"Technical support was not always great. They tend to push you towards workbench admins or paid support."
"I'm just taking over the account, so I'm still pretty new to the whole system."
"Improvements can be made from the back end, with the workbench."
"The downside of Kenexa is that they're constantly reinventing, so they have constant releases with new features and upgrades. The downside of that is that they do experience fairly regular issues with stability that they're not always as quick to respond to as we'd like them to."
"I would say that it could likely be made slightly easier to consume and work with - less scientific or engineering oriented - but IBM Kenexa Talent Insights is about the most powerful and useful tool I've seen."
"We have had issues with respect to incidents."
"This solution could be made easier to use by continuing to release new improvements."
"The navigation of Workday is good but could be better."
"The ability to drive more analytics on a customizable level would be helpful."
"They could improve the product areas such as enhancing the interview scheduling module to support more flexible online assessments within the platform."
"Errors are not very clear in some cases. I've been experiencing some issues within the application that the error messages or what I needed to do were not very easily clear to me."
"The user interface could be modernized somehow."
"In Workday Human Capital Management, I feel that the security part needs to be improved."
 

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."
"I would rate the solution’s pricing a six out of ten."
"With a bigger budget, I would recommend SAP."
"The solution is flexible in terms of pricing."
"The solution’s pricing is better than SAP SuccessFactors."
"Each module comes with an additional cost. It operates on a mid-price model. So, there is an additional payment for each module needed. The solution might be costlier for smaller companies, making it more suitable for mid to large-sized enterprises."
"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."
"By and large, Workday is expensive. It is based on the headcount. I'd probably rate it a three or four out of five in terms of pricing. It'd be like buying a Mercedes or a high-end car. It's expensive, but there's a specific value that you're getting with additional features and things of that nature. Using that metaphor, Workday probably tends to be more of a luxury. There are others like ADP that can do your payroll, your time off, and other things, but they don't do it as well."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
6%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise50
 

Questions from the Community

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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...
How easy is to maintain Workday, Oracle Cloud, and SuccessFactors?
I implemented Workday in 2024 and without having previous Workday experience, it was very challenging. I spent most of 2025 putting out fires and cleaning up the business processes that came with l...
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...
 

Also Known As

IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
Workday Human Capital Management
 

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 HCM and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
905,526 professionals have used our research since 2012.