Workday vs Peoplesoft

Workday and PeopleSoft are two popular HR solutions that own the two largest slices of market share for the HR software market.

Both solutions are built for enterprise-sized businesses and offer similar features. Comparing similarities and uniqueness of the tools can help us figure out which meets our out-of-the-box feature and hosting requirements.

Similarities:

Workday and PeopleSoft perform a wide variety of suites and functionalities like Human Capital Management, Financial management, Student Information System, Enterprise resource planning. While PeopleSoft comes with many out-of-the-box features such as available on premise, cloud based, built in CRM. Workday has fewer embedded features but integrates with more third-party software tools. Workday also has strategic partnerships with other industry-leading tech companies such as Sales force and IBM.

Both tools are available as cloud-based solutions. Workday runs only on public cloud, but PeopleSoft can run on any public or private cloud storage system. PeopleSoft works best on the Oracle Cloud.

Differences:

Deployment and updates

The biggest difference between Workday and PeopleSoft is how you deploy them.

Workday was built for the cloud, but PeopleSoft was built as an on-premise solution that later released a cloud-based version. This is important for two reasons: updates and cost.

Workday’s developers push software updates automatically through the cloud so there’s no need for system administrators or end-users to deploy periodic software updates.

This also means you won’t have to invest in any hardware or infrastructure. PeopleSoft is available as a public cloud deployment, but it can be purchased as an on-premise and private cloud implementation as well. Instead of installing updates as they become available, PeopleSoft uses a selective adoption workflow for updates. This means updated versions of the software come out regularly, but system administrators can choose which updates they want to download and when they want to download them.

If you’re used to using SaaS tools like Workday, it may seem like the obvious choice, but when it comes to a system as huge as a comprehensive HR and ERP software, many companies actually prefer the room for customization offered by an on-premise solution. But even among enterprise-sized businesses, IT resources and staff sizes vary. An on-premise solution will require significantly more IT resources than a cloud-based solution, and software run in a private cloud will cost more than those that use a public cloud.

CRM

Additionally, there are several differences between core features in Workday and PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft offers its own CRM solution that communicates with the rest of the PeopleSoft platform and can be tailored to fit a variety of industries. By contrast, Workday doesn’t have a built-in CRM application, but it does offer native integration with Salesforce, thanks to a strategic partnership between the two companies.

Analytic and reporting

Like many modern business software solutions, Workday and PeopleSoft both offer business intelligence features. These features vary the most based on where business’s data will be stored. PeopleSoft stores its customers’ data on its proprietary databases, but Workday connects to outside data sources to build analytic reports within Workday. These tools are available all across the system to bring insights right into the dashboards, but the addition of outside data elevates the feature to a business intelligence tool.

User interface

One zone where Workday sparkles is its natural design. Workday is built on modern architecture and provides a UI built for the web. Workday provides users a single experience across mobile, tablets, and desktop views. The UI is designed to change with the latest trends and needs of the consumers, without touching the core functionality of the product. That implies UI changes don’t change user’s way of work.

For Peoplesoft the change from an on-premise desktop app to a responsive mobile-ready environment is not only technically challenging but also requires current users to be trained on the new UI. This necessarily change makes Peoplesoft competitive with other cloud-ready software.

Conclusion:

Workday is an advanced platform. It is built for the modern workforce. Their technology aligns with the current trends in IT. Their continuous updates and enterprise focus make them a feasible choice for the companies.

PeopleSoft is designed to deal with the most complex business requirements. Oracle keeps on moving Peoplesoft toward cloud functionality and flexibility. The move gives all users better access to their ERP data from anywhere.

In a nutshell, Workday and PeopleSoft lead the pack when it comes to comprehensive HR Cloud solutions. SOAIS provides expert services on both Peoplesoft and Workday. Please do reach out to contactus@soais.com for any PeopleSoft or Workday needs.