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IBM Kenexa vs PeopleFluent Talent Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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 Talent Management
17th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (16th), Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software (10th)
PeopleFluent Talent Management
Ranking in Talent Management
22nd
Average Rating
6.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Talent Management category, the mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 1.6%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PeopleFluent Talent Management is 1.8%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Talent Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Kenexa1.6%
PeopleFluent Talent Management1.8%
Other96.6%
Talent Management
 

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.
JM
Learning Solution Architect at a recruiting/HR firm with self employed
A flexible solution with superb automation capabilities
The technical support is high-end. They're knowledgeable people, both in the US and in the Philippines. One point of improvement — they should talk more to each other. They're quite responsive, but it depends on the scope of the ticket. If it's just solving an issue from one product, you can have either a consultant from the US or from the Philippines. It gets difficult when a solution is about integration. For instance, authentication mechanisms. Authentication mechanisms come from the US and they have to be incorporated in the Asia version. Then it's difficult because support has to talk to each other.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Now, having provided this, amongst many other things, we have a much closer relationship to the business."
"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."
"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."
"I like how we can copy a req as we have many duplicates, which saved a lot of time when opening reqs."
"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."
"The most valuable features are that we can upload documents and download them on demand, whether it is joining documents, employment screening, or your employment history, and it's easy enough to upload, find, and retrieve whatever you are looking for."
"I would definitely and highly recommend the applicant tracking system."
"This solution is extremely flexible and the automation capabilities are great."
"I find the PeopleFluent implementation support to be extremely flexible and generous towards their customers."
"Overall, it’s easy to learn and use."
 

Cons

"Once-a-year engagement kind of seems to be a little bit lagging in terms of how we can actually shape and improve organizations, so I was looking forward to understanding a bit more where IBM Kenexa's thinking is going in terms of pulsing with the employee voice and how that kind of integrates and works with tell-it-as-it-is, and the other two applications we have; it's just too early to know."
"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 not recommend IBM Kenexa to others."
"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."
"There are tools that actually are not there where clients need them, especially the survey analytics to analyze verbatim in different languages."
"We're really looking forward to some of their enhancements to their onboarding portal, specifically for recruiters and hiring managers."
"I would like to have a better and more user-friendly interface."
"The user interface could do with an overhaul."
"Give us the ability to source within the tool. It may just be how it’s configured for our organization, but we do not have the ability to source resumes in PeopleFluent."
"The integration capabilities could be improved. Integration of the recently acquired Learning Management System into the PeopleFluent suite, since it's clear that it's just recently acquired and it's not fully integrated."
"The integration capabilities could 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."
"It's not too expensive, but not too cheap either."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise28
No data available
 

Also Known As

IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
Peopleclick Authoria, PeopleFluent
 

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
Hertz Video, UAP, ServiceMaster, Advance Auto Parts, Nationwide Insurance, Exelon, WakeMed, Biopharmaceutical Company VMS, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, Hammersmith & Fulham, FitchRatings, Fitness First, Carillion, Carquest, AccentCare VMS, Cadbury Schweppes
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Kenexa vs. PeopleFluent Talent Management and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.