TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

AkkenCloud vs. StepStone vs. symplr Talent Management Solutions

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    AkkenCloud

    Score6.9 out of 10
    N/AAkkenCloud is a cloud-based ATS developed by Akken Inc in New Hampshire. This product offers the full suite of features typical of applicant tracking systems: A user-friendly interface and mobile device integration Batch or mass communication with potential candidates via multiple channels such as email or by leveraging its integration with social networking sites (e.g. LinkedIn) Instantaneous posting to multiple job boards Job alerts and category sorted…N/A

    StepStone

    Score10 out of 10
    N/AStepStone is an online job board from the company of the same name headquartered in Dusseldorf.

    $34.75

    per month

    symplr Talent Management Solutions

    Score7.2 out of 10
    N/Asymplr acquired HealthcareSource in July, 2021. The former HealthcareSource now forms the foundation fo the symplr talent management suite.N/A
    Pricing
    AkkenCloudStepStonesymplr Talent Management Solutions
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    License
    $34.75
    per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    AkkenCloudStepStonesymplr Talent Management Solutions
    Free Trial
    NoNoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details———
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    AkkenCloudStepStonesymplr Talent Management Solutions
    Considered Multiple Products
    AkkenCloud
    No answer on this topic
    StepStone
    No answer on this topic
    symplr
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    71%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    80%
    Delivers good value for the price
    4 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    86%
    Happy with the feature set
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    AkkenCloudStepStonesymplr Talent Management Solutions
    Recruiting / ATS
    Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of AkkenCloud and StepStone and symplr Talent Management Solutions
    Feature
    AkkenCloud
    7.7
    8 Ratings
    3% below category average
    StepStone
    -
    Ratings
    symplr Talent Management Solutions
    6.8
    2 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Job Requisition Management6.18 Ratings00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Company Website Posting8.67 Ratings00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
    Publish to Social Media8.65 Ratings00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
    Job Search Site Posting8.75 Ratings00 Ratings5.02 Ratings
    Resume Management9.47 Ratings00 Ratings4.02 Ratings
    Duplicate Candidate Prevention9.28 Ratings00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Candidate Search4.08 Ratings00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Applicant Tracking7.58 Ratings00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Collaboration4.88 Ratings00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Task Creation and Delegation8.27 Ratings00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Email Templates8.05 Ratings00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    User Permissions9.05 Ratings00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Notifications and Alerts7.05 Ratings00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
    Reporting8.06 Ratings00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Customized Application Form00 Ratings00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Onboarding
    Comparison of Onboarding features of AkkenCloud and StepStone and symplr Talent Management Solutions
    Feature
    AkkenCloud
    -
    Ratings
    StepStone
    -
    Ratings
    symplr Talent Management Solutions
    9.2
    2 Ratings
    24% above category average
    New hire portal00 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Manager tracking tools00 Ratings00 Ratings8.52 Ratings
    Compliance tracking and reporting00 Ratings00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Performance and Goals
    Comparison of Performance and Goals features of AkkenCloud and StepStone and symplr Talent Management Solutions
    Feature
    AkkenCloud
    -
    Ratings
    StepStone
    -
    Ratings
    symplr Talent Management Solutions
    8.1
    2 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Corporate goal setting00 Ratings00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Subordinate goal setting00 Ratings00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Individual goal setting00 Ratings00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Performance tracking00 Ratings00 Ratings8.42 Ratings
    Performance Management
    Comparison of Performance Management features of AkkenCloud and StepStone and symplr Talent Management Solutions
    Feature
    AkkenCloud
    -
    Ratings
    StepStone
    -
    Ratings
    symplr Talent Management Solutions
    9.0
    1 Ratings
    27% above category average
    Performance improvement plans00 Ratings00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Review status tracking00 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Rater nomination workflow00 Ratings00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Review reminders00 Ratings00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Workflow restrictions00 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Multiple review frequency00 Ratings00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Reporting00 Ratings00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Succession Planning
    Comparison of Succession Planning features of AkkenCloud and StepStone and symplr Talent Management Solutions
    Feature
    AkkenCloud
    -
    Ratings
    StepStone
    -
    Ratings
    symplr Talent Management Solutions
    6.5
    2 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Candidate ranking00 Ratings00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Candidate search00 Ratings00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Candidate development00 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Learning Management
    Comparison of Learning Management features of AkkenCloud and StepStone and symplr Talent Management Solutions
    Feature
    AkkenCloud
    -
    Ratings
    StepStone
    -
    Ratings
    symplr Talent Management Solutions
    8.4
    1 Ratings
    18% above category average
    Course authoring00 Ratings00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Course catalog or library00 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Player/Portal00 Ratings00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Learning content00 Ratings00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Mobile friendly00 Ratings00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Progress tracking & certifications00 Ratings00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Assignments00 Ratings00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Compliance management00 Ratings00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Learning administration00 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Learning reporting & analytics00 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Social learning00 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    AkkenCloudStepStonesymplr Talent Management Solutions
    Small Businesses
    Crelate
    Score9.1 out of 10
    LinkedIn Jobs
    Score7.9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    CareerSiteBuilder
    Score10 out of 10
    Glassdoor
    Score7.2 out of 10
    SumTotal (legacy)
    Score7.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    JobDiva
    Score8 out of 10
    Snagajob
    Score6.2 out of 10
    Cornerstone Galaxy
    Score8.1 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    AkkenCloudStepStonesymplr Talent Management Solutions
    Likelihood to Recommend
    6.0
    (13 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.1
    (11 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.6
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (5 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    2.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    AkkenCloudStepStonesymplr Talent Management Solutions
    Likelihood to Recommend
    AkkenCloud
    I don't know many other scenarios, as I have been with this company for 13 years and in this industry for roughly 25 years. It is a tool that is well suited for our company and this industry in general. As a staffing company, you can accomplish nearly everything imaginable with this tool. The only area I have seen that might not be ideal is if you wanted to run all kinds of metrics. You can run a variety of reports in Akken, the data fields are limited sometimes and one would think that wouldn't need to be the case. You should be able to put whatever data you want in any field to create the report you need.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StepStone
    No answers on this topic
    symplr
    If their HRIS system holds all their data - employees, supervisors, positions then HealthcareSource can really take advantage of that data and save you a lot of time. We looked at a lot of systems and one of our needs was both Applicant Tracking and Performance Management and these systems work very well together. Other systems we looked at didn't have all our most needed features - we needed a vendor that could do both, integrate with our HRIS, report back data in a customizable fashion, and be user friendly. Some systems listed the features but during the demo and product reference calls we found they didn't perform as advertised. Some had reporting but the reporting was missing key data or didn't export in a data friendly manner. We have found HealthcareSource to be not only "pretty" - aka user friendly/non-cluttered but also had the engine under the hood as well that met our data analyst needs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    AkkenCloud
    • Automatically keeps a record of activities such as email conversations related to a candidate.
    • Time and date stamp on events logged to a candidate and customer is a great resource.
    • Completing full company profiles with all contacts is very helpful for later efficiency.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StepStone
    No answers on this topic
    symplr
    • When any company implements a new program they have specific needs that they want customized for them. Healthcare source did a great job providing excellent customer service to our HR and IT professionals working behind the scenes to help us maximize the programs potential at our organization. They did not limit us to any standard uses or prohibit us from reaching our internal goals. Some examples include specialized reports, data uploads of employee data and time frames for our annual reviews.
    • They provided us with training and retraining and more training on using the system. This included training new members of our team when we had turnover in HR and inviting us to conferences and webcasts regularly.
    • The presentation of the software was very appealing and that may seem small but it really helps appeal to the employees that use it for their reviews.
    Read full review
    Cons
    AkkenCloud
    • This is the worst ATS I've ever used. It's hard to find what you need. It's not set up in a coherent manner and things are all over the place.
    • I have to download a resume just to view it.
    • The parse function only works in Internet Explorer and it works poorly then. Makes it impossible to tell if its actually a duplicate because it flags everything.
    • No section for meaningful notes. Notes are all just reports of action.
    • No way to make it efficient for direct hires. All geared towards staffing so it makes you fill out non-sense information that will be inaccurate and irrelevant just to satisfy field requirements.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StepStone
    No answers on this topic
    symplr
    • To allow our team members choice, we offer training as either/or. The current system does not record either/or completions
    • To end enrollment of new hires for training at a set date, requires also ending the training of all those not yet completed.
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    AkkenCloud
    There is no reason for us to make a switch. Everybody in the office is familiar with it and it allows us to get our work done faster. There are no pressing issues that would warrant a change at this point
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StepStone
    No answers on this topic
    symplr
    Looking back we can say that every year we used Performance Manager and other products too like HeathcareSource's Compensation and Position Manager we saw the ease of use for employees and HR staff members increase, we saw employees getting more comfortable with the product and HR Staff getting better at expressing their needs to the HealthcareSource team and this made us want to stay with the same company, when things are getting better each year we know we are in the right place.
    Read full review
    Usability
    AkkenCloud
    Akken is quite easy to use however there are a few more complex functions or multi steps to go through to run reports and find historic information.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StepStone
    No answers on this topic
    symplr
    The product is very intuitive to the end users and our online documentation seems sufficient to train our new employees.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    AkkenCloud
    It's an average tool. The calendar function isn't great, email is slow, and there always seem to be day-to-day issues. The functionality is mostly there for a staffing firm, but there are plenty of areas of improvement still needed
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StepStone
    No answers on this topic
    symplr
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    AkkenCloud
    The best support we have received has been from sales. Customer success is pretty much a joke. We have been yelled at by customer success reps; been told to take a screenshot of something we are not seeing; been told there are no issues on there in when Akken hadn't been working for hours, only to have it magically fixed shortly after we reported the problem; and been told engineering was working on a problem for weeks without resolution. If you are going to be working with IT Staffing companies, you have to understand that we have a modicum of knowledge in IT, and you can't BS us. Honesty will get you a lot farther than stringing us along with BS.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StepStone
    No answers on this topic
    symplr
    On the previous rating scale, I kept thinking "it depends". If I know it's an easy question or easy fix, the response is super fast. If I know I am asking something complex, custom or I just know it's not going to be able to be answered by 1st tier, it can take some time. I have worked on these issues with them (they are all very nice) I do now have avenues for finding things out from one person. We had one issue where we had a major problem and it required a software patch and their support team worked throughout the weekend to create, QA, and deliver the patch as promised. I was very impressed
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    AkkenCloud
    Encourage your team to watch the training videos available.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StepStone
    No answers on this topic
    symplr
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    AkkenCloud
    We preferred the ability to go with Mac computers. That was the number one selling point for us. Besides that we liked the ease of the product. The email interface looked exactly like Outlook. The calendar the same. The price was also a big selling point. It came in slightly cheaper than Bullhorn and other systems and in our opinion a better product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StepStone
    No answers on this topic
    symplr
    Both Health Stream and Healthcare Source have to-do lists, completion lists, and tracking. However, the functionality of Healthcare Source is far superior to HealthStream. The notifications are much better and helpful. The tracking on Healthcare Source is easy to use and see. Overall the interface in Healthcare Source is more intuitive.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    AkkenCloud
    • Sometimes the system is slow and the process of hiring someone is lengthy so it takes a long time to complete it so it takes away from other things I could be working on
    • It’s easy and quick to manage candidates to show what process they’re in
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StepStone
    No answers on this topic
    symplr
    • NetLearning has increased our nursing CEU credits with the most efficiency. Now nurses can take courses on NetLearning and have it track their hours.
    • On a compliance standpoint, NetLearning has benefited us when we are being audited and we have to show what trainings or classes an employee has made. Also, to make sure that their certifications are up to date.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots