SAP SuccessFactors vs Workday comparison

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14,726 views|9,756 comparisons
85% willing to recommend
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14,375 views|9,060 comparisons
91% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 6, 2024

We compared SAP SuccessFactors and Workday based on our user's reviews in several parameters.

In summary, SAP SuccessFactors is praised for its comprehensive HR capabilities, customizable reporting, competitive pricing, and strong customer support. On the other hand, Workday is highly valued for its user-friendly interface, extensive reporting capabilities, mobile accessibility, and versatile adaptability. Both platforms have room for improvement in areas such as customization options and UI simplicity. Workday excels in proactive customer service, while SAP SuccessFactors offers robust training resources.

Features: SAP SuccessFactors stands out with its comprehensive HR capabilities, customizable reporting, and strong support resources. In contrast, Workday excels in user-friendly interface, extensive reporting, adaptability to different business needs, and robust security measures.

Pricing and ROI: The setup cost for SAP SuccessFactors is considered affordable and straightforward, with flexible and varied licensing options. On the other hand, Workday offers a positive experience with fair and reasonable pricing, manageable setup costs, and no concerns about licensing., According to user feedback, SAP SuccessFactors delivers significant value to organizations, resulting in positive outcomes. Workday also shows satisfactory or positive ROI based on users' experiences.

Room for Improvement: Users have suggested that SAP SuccessFactors could benefit from enhancements in customization options and user interface simplification. Workday users have expressed a need for more intuitive navigation, better customization options, and enhanced reporting capabilities.

Deployment and customer support: The reviews show that for SAP SuccessFactors, there is a clear distinction between deployment and setup phases, with users mentioning different timeframes for each. On the other hand, for Workday, there is more variability, with some users considering deployment and setup as the same period and others treating them separately., SAP SuccessFactors stands out for exceptional customer service, with prompt and helpful assistance. Users value the support team's knowledge and efficiency. Workday also excels in customer service, with prompt, helpful, and professional support.

The summary above is based on 70 interviews we conducted recently with SAP SuccessFactors and Workday users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.

To learn more, read our detailed SAP SuccessFactors vs. Workday Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Easy to use and user-friendly.""The performance goals and learning management solutions are the product's most valuable features.""What I like most about SAP SuccessFactors are its recruiting and compensation features.""Talent Acquisition and Learning features are best in class.""The solution is scalable. We have about 1,300 people using the solution.""The main advantage of SuccessFactors is its ability to add many types of integrations within the SAP Cloud platform. Many useful modules can be implemented alongside SuccessFactors as third-party integrations, and this capability to extend the system is a big plus.""The overall functionality of the solution is very good.""Overall, it's excellent performance management."

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"The most valuable feature of Workday is the ease of use which is overall user-friendly.""It is easy to use and straightforward.""In the process of obtaining representative sites in NaviNet, it assists us in facilitating decision-making and taking action.""There is a lot to like about it. I really enjoy the business process framework. It's something that's really seamless. It allows you to have people within the flow. They get assigned a task to complete something to approve, etc. That's a really good piece of functionality that Workday offers. Their out-of-the-box reporting framework is also really powerful in terms of what it provides. These would be two things that I would highlight.""Workday is a holistic HR solution.""It's intuitive, a very usable tool and it's easy to find the data you're looking for.""I would say that we have definitely seen a return on investment.""It's easy to set up."

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Cons
"Everything, including the provisioning dependency, should be moved to the instance, and coding should be kept to a minimum. Wherever possible, coding should be minimized, and everything should be a drag-and-drop.""We lack information regarding how to build a network.""LMS, Learning Management Systems, needs improvement because there were some stability problems.""SAP SuccessFactors could improve the integration. It is not simple to integrate and it needs to be made easier.""User experience for this solution needs to be improved.""Analytics could use some work.""There's room for improvement in SAP SuccessFactors, particularly in terms of innovation. I'd like more flexibility in its functionality and more customization. In terms of what additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of the product, it depends on the module because you have various modules in SAP SuccessFactors, so it's easier to go module by module and understand what features you have in each module. The product has a lot of features coming up, but the product being more mobile, or having mobile features would be nice.""There have been cases involving a lot of re-implementations and frustrations within clients where they have the workbook sessions, the workbook workshops and things like that. And I think that doesn't really go down well because the workbooks are very technical and, a lot of times, very confusing for the client."

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"Workday could improve by adding other features, such as messaging to candidates and other recruiting capabilities that other new-age solutions have.""The security console should be made less complex.""In a future release we could like to have access to asset, supply and treasury management functionalities.""It has missing functionalities. Specific countries, like Germany, didn't have the option to do payroll. Now we need to look for another product for HR.""The user interface can be enhanced.""The solution has some features missing when you put them in the test studio or Confluence Studio. I would like the tool’s coding to be easier to understand and automated. Most of the coding these days is automated. Any query given can pull the answer directly which can make the solution easier to understand.""There were a lot of issues. There were consistency or accuracy issues with the data we had, and every time we had to pull reports in Workday, it was difficult.""Reporting systems should be improved. If you want to report it on paper, if you want something more BI oriented, more high level predictive or more data-driven, it should be improved."

More Workday Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The licensing fees are based on the number of modules that are being used, and the number of users."
  • "I don't want to comment on the license cost, to be honest. It could be about $1,000 approximately per customer. However, it's very flexible in terms of the licensing costs depending on the volume and depending on the deal of installation."
  • "If you go by best practices and do it right from the outset, the setup won't be a costly endeavor. In terms of setup, there is a lot of flexibility compared to three years ago."
  • "It could be cheaper."
  • "We have a yearly license. There are no additional costs."
  • "SAP SuccessFactors requires an annual subscription."
  • "It is not expensive because it is a complete suite with a module-based cost."
  • "For SAP, the product is pricey, both CAPEX and the OPEX. It's something that could be improved."
  • More SAP SuccessFactors Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "With a bigger budget, I would recommend SAP."
  • "Workday is an expensive solution."
  • "You have the license fee per module, and then you have a kind of annual training fee, which is a kind of add-on. I wouldn't say it is exhaustive; it is minor. Licensing is pretty transparent for most of the part."
  • "The pricing is good from an HR perspective, although management gets upset after spending $500,000 a year, every year."
  • "Its price is pretty high. It is more expensive than what is offered by other competitors in the market."
  • "It has an annual subscription rate, but I'm not sure how it will work."
  • "The pricing for this solution is fairly high. It is not affordable for small and mid-sized companies."
  • "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."
  • More Workday Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer:When it comes to user experience, SuccessFactors is unquestionably superior, as it provides end users with a new experience and an advanced user interface. Additionally, the entire concept of SF is to… more »
    Top Answer:The tool is easy to use for performance management. We haven't experienced any issues with SAP SuccessFactors for performance management, which is great. However, since we're still learning to use it… more »
    Top Answer:I like its UI and UX. When we were using Oracle or SAP, the UI/UX wasn't very user-friendly for the employees.
    Top Answer:It's very, very expensive. When I was in a startup company, we tried to adopt Workday. We called them and asked how much it would cost for our company. And the first answer from the salesperson was… more »
    Top Answer:Workday does not support many Korean language features. So, it will be great if they have some development on the Korean language side – then it will be really powerful in our market. So there should… more »
    Ranking
    1st
    out of 68 in Cloud HCM
    Views
    14,726
    Comparisons
    9,756
    Reviews
    40
    Average Words per Review
    498
    Rating
    7.7
    2nd
    out of 68 in Cloud HCM
    Views
    14,375
    Comparisons
    9,060
    Reviews
    25
    Average Words per Review
    433
    Rating
    8.3
    Comparisons
    SAP HCM logo
    Compared 18% of the time.
    Oracle HCM Cloud logo
    Compared 9% of the time.
    PeopleSoft logo
    Compared 9% of the time.
    UKG logo
    Compared 9% of the time.
    Cornerstone Learning logo
    Compared 6% of the time.
    Also Known As
    SuccessFactors
    Learn More
    Overview

    SAP SuccessFactors is a valuable human resource management system (HRMS) solution that streamlines numerous HR tasks and activities, such as payroll, talent management, and people processes, to help make the entire HR process run more smoothly and improve the overall employee experience. It is primarily developed to meet the needs of enterprise-class organizations. SAP SuccessFactors can also help users to boost business processes and achieve desired outcomes.

    SAP SuccessFactors is cloud-based and built as a Software as a Service (SaaS) tool. It can integrate seamlessly with any existing ecosystem. This solution can easily be accessed from any web browser, from any location, with any device.

    SAP Success Factors Key Features

    • Improve core HR and payroll process: SAP SuccessFactors can help users improve productivity by simplifying everyday tasks, streamlining processes across the organization, establishing consistent business practices, and improving the bottom line by reducing risk. SuccessFactors core HR tools include time and attendance, payroll management, document management, and additional core HR services to meet regulatory and compliance needs.

    • Staff planning and HR analytics: SuccessFactors can facilitate an improved DE&I (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) environment using intuitive people data measurements. The solution can help create action plans to ensure that hiring goals are met in a timely manner, preventing critical staffing gaps and ensuring that productivity and profitability goals are consistently being achieved.

    • Employee welfare management: SuccessFactors allows users to respond in a timely manner to employee needs and concerns, to better understand employee motivations, to keep employees happy and involved, to specify employee dissatisfiers, and to help improve the overall employee experience. The solution will also facilitate employee performance using an intuitive holistic approach, improve employee benefits, and guide and administer the entire employee career growth. SuccessFactors provides valuable opportunities for employee growth through intuitive individualized learning and career development opportunities. It also rewards and recognizes good performance and provides pathways for successful career growth. The solution will help to attract and retain the best available talent in the marketplace.
    • Succession Planning: The solution can be used to assist with talent sourcing, candidate management, and improving the overall candidate experience to include new hire onboarding, offboarding, and more. SuccessFactors also provides action plans for performance and compensation management, education and career development, talent reviews, leadership planning, and even sales performance management, goal setting, and quotas.

    Reviews from Real Users

    “We are using it for a lot of things: HR, performance management, and learning management. There are a lot of features embedded in SuccessFactors. We recently implemented a learning platform that employs the individual staff to actually manage their own learning. They can do it at their own pace. SuccessFactors allows you to manage your team, have calibration for promotion, and you can generate reports and see how you're doing.” - Alaba O., IT Asset Management Lead at Dangote Industries Limited

    “SuccessFactors Talent Management tools help us in managing the entire employee journey. HR and managers can use the succession and development tool to create career paths and staff development plans. When combined with the learning tool, these development objectives can help employees gain the skills they need to advance their careers within the company.” - Yamen Z., SAP Project Manager at a manufacturing company

    Workday is a cloud-based software solution that specializes in developing applications for capital and finance management applications. The system is built to work in global workforces and is adaptable. The global system ensures that users are up to date and can manage internal career-related information, and everyday business problems like timesheets, payrolls, and time off.

    “A Pioneer in Software-as-a-Service”

    Workday Human Capital Management tool is designed to simplify and streamline your work. It leverages machine learning to adapt capital management to a changing environment.

    The Workday model is based on delivering a single system that uses a single source of data and a single security model to deliver a unique user experience. The system is user-friendly and ensures that employees and management can use it from any and all devices. Workday HCM integrates into a central system that includes financial management, payroll, recruiting, learning, and planning. Managers and employees can provide feedback to one another, too.

    Workday’s features include:

    • Flexible framework that lets you organize your staff according to different criteria. You can group employees by function, hierarchy, or department.
    • Personalized career guidance: Knowledge management and career guidance that can be easily customized for each staff member and also done at scale.
    • Augmented reporting and analytics: Configure, change, update, and publish reports, scorecards, and dashboards. The system centralizes the transactional and analytical data so you can act on the data from anywhere.
    • Compensation tools: Compensatio, payroll, and time tracking are automated and simplified.
    • Workforce planning allows you to uncover and address talent gaps and get visibility of your staff.
    • Mobile-first ensign approach: Users can access all resources from any device, and they are always in sync.
    • Machine learning capabilities enable personalized enterprise experiences and faster business processes.

    Workday smart platform consists of the following modules:

    • Human resource management
    • Business process management
    • Reporting and analytics
    • Benefits administration
    • Compensation management
    • Talent management
    • Survey framework
    • Employee and management self-service

    Reviews from Real Users

    Many organizations choose Workday because it provides an all-in-one modular solution for human capital and finance management. Our users say they like the ease of use for time-off requests, career and development segments, and overall HR management. The records and reporting capabilities are another popular feature.

    "The solution was very good at reconfiguration and customization of their software. It helped us to meet federal regulations," said one user. Another said that the best feature is the optimization of the work day experience with a unified platform that can be applied across different business units. “You will never find a use case that cannot be covered," said a third.

    Sample Customers
    City of Cape Town, ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Ltd., TransAlta Corporation, Keolis, PT XL Axiata Tbk, National Football League (NFL), Plan International, Yoh, A Day & Zimmermann Company, China Talent Group (CTG TMO), Umicore S.A., Butterfield Bank, Skril
    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!
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company26%
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization46%
    Computer Software Company8%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm27%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Hospitality Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization26%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise63%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business10%
    Midsize Enterprise50%
    Large Enterprise39%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise67%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business14%
    Midsize Enterprise33%
    Large Enterprise53%
    Buyer's Guide
    SAP SuccessFactors vs. Workday
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about SAP SuccessFactors vs. Workday and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    SAP SuccessFactors is ranked 1st in Cloud HCM with 90 reviews while Workday is ranked 2nd in Cloud HCM with 51 reviews. SAP SuccessFactors is rated 7.8, while Workday is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of SAP SuccessFactors writes "Offers many useful modules and integrations, and helps companies adhere to best practices". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Workday writes "The solution's interface is clean, organized, and easy to use ". SAP SuccessFactors is most compared with SAP HCM, Oracle HCM Cloud, PeopleSoft, UKG and Cornerstone Learning, whereas Workday is most compared with SAP HCM, Oracle HCM Cloud, PeopleSoft, UKG and Cornerstone Learning. See our SAP SuccessFactors vs. Workday report.

    See our list of best Cloud HCM vendors, best Talent Management vendors, and best Talent Acquisition vendors.

    We monitor all Cloud HCM reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.