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ADP Workforce Now vs IBM Kenexa 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

ADP Workforce Now
Ranking in Benefits Administration
7th
Ranking in Talent Management
15th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Cloud HCM (11th), HR Analytics Software (5th)
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 (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Talent Management category, the mindshare of ADP Workforce Now is 1.7%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 1.6%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Talent Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ADP Workforce Now1.7%
IBM Kenexa1.6%
Other96.7%
Talent Management
 

Featured Reviews

Vineeth John - PeerSpot reviewer
Director, People & Culture at a agriculture with 201-500 employees
Custom reporting tool with field grabber, easy modules for recruitment and provides numerous options for integration
The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP because it has all the bells and whistles and all the key features you can possibly think of. If it isn't there, there's always a third-party vendor you can integrate that way. But the only issue is that because it's complex, there needs to be some sort of system, at least on the back end, for the admins to understand what leads to what. We expect AI to improve multiple things with HR processes. The most obvious and common one would be the self-service function for employees, like a chatbot to help with FAQs. We are also building an AI tool that can possibly help managers make better talent management decisions. This tool will pull from the performance management tool, the talent profile, and the reports that we generally have to score employees across all different dimensions.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature to me is performance management because we just started using that."
"The way that ADP helped us improve our organization is by making the payroll process clean and efficient because if you make a mistake there, you're in big trouble."
"The platform is on a private cloud that is fully secure with no way for hacker penetration."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The product allows for accurate, consistent payrolls."
"I love the integration of HR, payroll, tax filing, benefits, time and attendance, GL, ACA, employee/manager self-service, reporting and analytics."
"For small to mid-sized companies, Workforce Now is one of the better products on the market, clean with an easy interface that is simple to maneuver around, stable, and will continue to improve into the future."
"It is hard to go wrong with choosing ADP as a solution for nearly any company."
"Scalability is great, as we use the system for everything from a very low-volume, high-touch corporate recruiting model to our tax office, high-volume approach, which is 80-100,000 people each season."
"I think one of the biggest benefits that Kenexa brings is the scalability."
"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 just think it's a good tool, with great flexibility."
"Great value and flexibility in an ATS, mainly through the automation and the configuration through Workbench you can do to manipulate the candidate experience to really be something that candidates like and allows them to apply to your site easily and put them in a pipeline for recruiters to access and move through a process and get somebody hired."
"This tool is very powerful and the ability to tweak it in order to meet desired processes and controls is valuable."
"We felt like Kenexa was robust enough and dynamic enough that it met our needs, so it didn't make sense for us to disrupt 700 locations and reteach them something."
"Kenexa’s scalability has been great, as we can grow and expand our use no matter what and seamlessly incorporate our business process for new launches."
 

Cons

"The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP ."
"Their “new and improved” message center (where you get notifications and go to approve things like time off) is actually not as easy as it used to be."
"Support leaves a lot to be desired."
"ADP provides a quarterly Error Notification Report that allows you to check for compliance errors based on payments made to employees that quarter. The report only shows employees by their file #; however, the recent ADP upgrade has an "Archive" feature that makes it impossible to search for employees by file number so currently, there is no way to identify the employees listed on the report without calling ADP."
"Its benefits portal could be user-friendly."
"The Call Centre: The extension number takes too many digits to get through and the wait time is too long."
"The workflow is a bit weak."
"I would like to see the payroll side improved and there are a few kinks that need to be worked out."
"The user interface could do with an overhaul."
"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."
"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."
"I'm just taking over the account, so I'm still pretty new to the whole system."
"Maybe there's some room for improvement in the functionality around the actual tools that we build with."
"Technical support was not always great. They tend to push you towards workbench admins or paid support."
"There are tools that actually are not there where clients need them, especially the survey analytics to analyze verbatim in different languages."
"2xO was created by brain-damaged monkeys in front of keyboards."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I know some of what we're currently paying. Most customers would say it's too high, but I don't have a comparison to know that."
"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing is expensive and I would say it is below average for the value it provides based on the high cost."
"The solution is expensive and everyone complains about the price."
"It is expensive."
"I give the pricing a seven out of ten."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Healthcare Company
5%
Construction Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise28
 

Also Known As

No data available
IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lawrence and Schiller, The Children's Center, The Kansas City Royals
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
Find out what your peers are saying about ADP Workforce Now vs. IBM Kenexa and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.