TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Brassring

    Score7.2 out of 10
    N/ABrassring, formerly from IBM and part of the Kenexa Talent Acquisition Suite, and now sold by Infinite Computer Solutions, is an enterprise grade ATS and onboarding solution. It allows companies to find the right talent, track and manage candidates, and use candidate data to spot trends within the applicant pool.N/A

    SilkRoad Recruiting

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ASilkRoad offers OpenHire, a recruiting and ATS system. It offers recruiting access through social media channels, data security, and EEO compliance for mid-sized to large businesses. It is a component of SilkRoad’s Lifesuite product line.N/A
    Pricing
    BrassringSilkRoad Recruiting
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    BrassringSilkRoad Recruiting
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    BrassringSilkRoad Recruiting
    Considered Both Products
    Infinite Computer Solutions, Inc
    Chose Brassring
    I didn't! However, I have used both SmartSearch and SilkRoad OpenHire extensively. SmartSearch is fantastic for recruiter geeks who really want to find out all the neat things that are available. It's fast, super easy to use, and quite elegant in design. Probably not a good …
    Chose Brassring
    I did not have much to do with the selection process, but I found out that OpenHire was in the running, which is the worst system I have ever worked with. I was able to share my OpenHire experience, and hopefully that assisted with the selection of Kenexa. Compared to other …
    Incentivized
    SilkRoad
    Chose SilkRoad Recruiting
    OpenHire is not nearly as advanced as Kenexa and is probably more on par with iCIMS. I did find iCIMS had some additional functionality and was easier to use than OpenHire. OpenHire's system seems much more fragmented, requiring work arounds than either of the others. I also …
    Incentivized
    Chose SilkRoad Recruiting
    Have used: Kenexa RecruiterCustom ATS applicationTaleo SBESuccessFactors ATS.

    OpenHire is a good solution but you have to pick the solution that best first your processes....no one solution can do it all. OpenHire is also a good value.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    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
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    BrassringSilkRoad Recruiting
    Recruiting / ATS
    Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Brassring and SilkRoad Recruiting
    Feature
    Brassring
    7.5
    11 Ratings
    5% below category average
    SilkRoad Recruiting
    6.8
    14 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Job Requisition Management7.711 Ratings7.214 Ratings
    Company Website Posting7.410 Ratings8.714 Ratings
    Publish to Social Media7.710 Ratings7.812 Ratings
    Job Search Site Posting7.711 Ratings7.813 Ratings
    Customized Application Form7.111 Ratings5.212 Ratings
    Resume Management7.410 Ratings7.014 Ratings
    Duplicate Candidate Prevention7.110 Ratings7.213 Ratings
    Candidate Search8.310 Ratings8.714 Ratings
    Applicant Tracking8.310 Ratings8.014 Ratings
    Collaboration7.18 Ratings8.014 Ratings
    Task Creation and Delegation7.46 Ratings7.310 Ratings
    Email Templates7.710 Ratings5.714 Ratings
    User Permissions7.49 Ratings3.714 Ratings
    Notifications and Alerts7.710 Ratings4.714 Ratings
    Reporting7.110 Ratings4.714 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    BrassringSilkRoad Recruiting
    Small Businesses
    Crelate
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Crelate
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    CareerSiteBuilder
    Score10 out of 10
    CareerSiteBuilder
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    JobDiva
    Score8 out of 10
    JobDiva
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    BrassringSilkRoad Recruiting
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.3
    (30 ratings)
    6.2
    (30 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    6.0
    (12 ratings)
    5.0
    (12 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    6.0
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    1.8
    (2 ratings)
    5.0
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    2.6
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    BrassringSilkRoad Recruiting
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Infinite Computer Solutions, Inc
    Kenexa is is well suited for any organization that has more than 3000 employees globally. I would not recommend this to startups or a growing organization with less than 3000 employees. But once you cross this number, Kenexa becomes useful and is a brilliant tool for global operations - recruiting. I would recommend this tool to any organization that has offices in many countries/geographies as well.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SilkRoad
    I think OpenHire is best for a small company (max about 2500 employees). The more employees you have the more HR people you should have and this can get expensive. I know most larger companies are using more advanced systems as well (Workday). During the selection process be sure to determine how many OpenHire users you would need. Ask whether your managers will be willing to work in the system as well or whether HR would have to own the entire process. If you are EEOC compliant, make sure you ask about diversity posting, APP tracking of applicants, and reporting needs. If you require an onboarding tool, SilkRoad offers RedCarpet. I found it to be very complex and hiring managers refused to use it. If you require an onboarding tool, definitely look into it. The demo may look great but there were a lot of implementation steps done to make it work and it just didn't fit our company culture. So make sure it fits yours.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Infinite Computer Solutions, Inc
    • Kenexa allows Boolean key word search within a particular requisition so it makes sifting through a high number of applicants manageable and effective
    • Kenexa can be tailored to meet individual business needs. During the time we’ve had Kenexa here I’ve used it in support of a few different business segments and for each the way the system was used to “position” candidate statuses have varied based on the individual need of the business. One example is when interviewing a high volume of applicants internationally, we were able to send qualified applicants through to the “event manager” and it would enable the candidate to select his/her interview date/time based on previously submitted options inputted by our Kenexa users.
    • Kenexa allows one to customize and score questions for each open requisition that applicants complete as they apply. The system then sorts applicants according to the score of candidate answers allowing for easy sorting of top qualified candidates.
    Read full review
    SilkRoad
    • The ease of use when it comes to create requisitions from a hiring managers side of things is definitely a positive. It's very much user intuitive and the specifications can be completely customized as to what a company would like to appear within said requisition.
    • Candidate correspondence is an absolute breeze as you can custom load templates into the system that can be edited at any time through an administrator in your company instead of having to go through a technical support team on the other side of things.
    • Overall, it's a pretty no muss no fuss system to use as there's not a great layer of complication about it and like most things, spaced practice and consistent exposure to it tend to iron out those rough edges. From an administration standpoint, adding in locations and hiring managers is incredibly simplistic along with reporting functionality.
    • Candidate folders have come a long way in the system and are much more user friendly at this point than when I began using the system some four years ago. It's very easy to shift candidate profiles between folders and edit on the fly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Infinite Computer Solutions, Inc
    • BrassRing's application system for candidates is prone to freezing and crashing in the middle of the application causing potential candidates to lose all progress. I filled out the application myself and witnessed these issues first hand, on top of several complaints I received via phone and email from candidates attempting to apply via the BrassRing service. Also, the Parsing system within the application is not capable of pulling any meaningful information out of text documents.
    • Each user must be added to each job in order for that job, and the candidates in it, to show up in relevant searches. This becomes a problem when a new team member joins the account and needs access to all of the previous openings just so that they can find candidates already in the system. The account I was working on involved literally hundreds of new openings a month, meaning that any movement of personnel on or off the account would mean having to update potentially thousands of old positions just to allow them to be able to mine the ATS for candidates. I don't see any particular reason why someone with access to the system should have to be given access to each individual job. If a particular position needs to be kept confidential for whatever reason then that individual position should be able to be set to only show to authorized recruiters. The rest of the positions should automatically be searchable by anyone with appropriate access to the ATS to allow for basic level candidate mining and movement.
    Read full review
    SilkRoad
    • OpenHire's user roles can create issues depending on how your company's hiring process flows. For example, at one company, the hiring managers were extremely involved in screening candidates yet the system seems very geared towards use of centralized recruiters who distribute candidates. The lack of ability to customize roles and security to match our managers' needs created additional burden on HR as well as frustration from hiring managers.
    • I experienced several problems uploading documents to accompany a candidate's offer. There was a limit on the number, size and type of attachments that could be included, and there was no alternative (as vetted with OpenHire) besides sending a separate correspondence to the candidate. I found this to appear unprofessional to the candidate as well as creating an extra step in the process for HR/recruiting.
    • The requisition process had a few issues which created inefficiencies in the process. Firstly, for times when you need to post a role confidentially outside of your standard process, there was no way to designate the req as 'confidential'. Instead, you had to use the 'executive' status which created issues (ie: inaccurate data in reporting). Secondly, OpenHire was unable to upload the company directory of emails in the requisition approver fields so rather than being able to select from a drop-down or using a 'smart' field, you had to type each approver's email out manually thus increasing the potential for error and delay in the process.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Infinite Computer Solutions, Inc
    I am confident that the Kenexa product will continue to evolve to meet the needs of our business in an ever changing work environment. The affiliation with IBM also plays a factor as we have a long standing successful relationship with IBM products. We will be looking to integrate other Kenexa products in the near future to streamline our HR processes.
    Read full review
    SilkRoad
    It was a great solution for the company in all aspects, especially the cost. The company was not in a position to afford a solution such as Oracle PeopleSoft. The only reason we did not renew OpenHire was we got acquired by a much larger organization and started utilizing the tools that the parent company had available
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Infinite Computer Solutions, Inc
    I feel like I am pretty decent with computers and systems. It was fairly easy to use it after about a week or two . But I have seen people struggle with it as well as some people not use it at all. It can be slow at times and not work at times. But Its a fine system.
    Read full review
    SilkRoad
    It's not a bad system to use, there just seems to be so much click through to get one task achieved. Once you know all the little routes and pieces it gets easier.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Infinite Computer Solutions, Inc
    Just slow for what we are doing here
    Read full review
    SilkRoad
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Infinite Computer Solutions, Inc
    It is a very basic system. It may be OK for entry level positions only. The practice of removing CVs while the recruitment process is ON is disturbing and there is no one to explain or to inform why it is being done. Even a routine mail is not sent to the client/consultant. I am surprised how this system is continuing without too many complaints.
    Read full review
    SilkRoad
    The support for Silkroad is awful. I know they are working on it and it seems to be slightly better but it's still not great. I have had multiple cases I have never heard from them on, others I have had to follow-up multiple times and one that took a year
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Infinite Computer Solutions, Inc
    We purchased an out of the box solution and that worked well for us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SilkRoad
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Infinite Computer Solutions, Inc
    SF ATS was not available at the time and Taleo was thought to be too expensive. In retrospect, given the amount of customization and leveraging of other vendor technology for things like analytics I suspect any cost advantage we realized evaporated
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SilkRoad
    NeoGov is a more simple system but just being able to require specific documents has been a huge time saver for us. Other elements in NeoGov aren't as robust but still it saves me a lot of time compared to OpenHire.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Infinite Computer Solutions, Inc
    • Kenexa has assisted us in identifying top talent within our target market of applicants.
    • Kenexa may exclude potentially good associates that don't test well.
    • Kenexa clearly defines specific categories and general notes for training, development, & coaching of associates on areas of opportunity.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SilkRoad
    • The cost was very high
    • It made managers more involved in the process
    • It got managers involved earlier than they had been in the past
    • It forced managers to stay involved in their recruiting and not just wait for HR to hire someone
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots