Should We Replace Our ATS — or Keep What We Have?
Replacing an ATS can fix real problems, but it also means moving data, retraining people and reconnecting other systems. Keeping the one you have can be the right call too. These questions, and what a few real buyers said, can help you decide.
What problem are you trying to solve?
Write down what is actually wrong. "It's old" is not enough. List the specific tasks that are slow, manual or impossible today. That list tells you whether a new system would help, and it becomes your most important requirement if you do replace it.
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority reviewed its hiring process in 2022 and set out to replace Oracle iRecruitment. Staff listed these problems with the system:
- Not mobile friendly
- No electronic signature capability
- No automated notification to candidate
- Limited reporting capabilities
- Difficult for HR staff to navigate and maintain
- Double data entry (Recruiting and HRIS)
Staff recommended UKG as the replacement. We haven't found a record of the board's final approval.
Is the current system actually holding up hiring?
Some problems come from the system, others from how it was set up or how the process works. Ask the people who use it every day, and check whether the vendor can fix the problem in the system you already have. If the system has stopped getting updates, or carries security risks, that's a stronger reason to move.
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in California had used CalOpps since 2008. Its staff report described CalOpps as "a legacy applicant tracking system at the end of its life cycle with concerning cybersecurity risks", and said the lack of upgrades left "limited automation and workflow capabilities for the recruitment process, resulting in numerous manual steps for posting positions, managing applications, and scheduling interviews. The onboarding process is also fully manual". The board approved a switch to NEOGOV's recruiting and onboarding systems. It voted on a group of routine items together, and the minutes we saw were still a draft.
Source: R-26-109: Award of Contract to NEOGOV for a Recruitment and Applicant Tracking System — staff report; Draft minutes, Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors, Board Meeting 26-18 (July 8, 2026)
What would switching disrupt?
Every switch interrupts something: open jobs, recruiters' routines, hiring managers' habits, reports people rely on. Weigh that against the problems you listed. If the current system works well enough, continuity can be a fair reason to stay.
Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District renewed NEOGOV, which it had used since September 2021, for three more years. Its staff report said "continuation of the platform ensures operational continuity, avoids disruption to HR workflows, and maintains the integrity of historical data."
Source: Summary of Actions, Board of Directors meeting of July 24, 2026; Agenda Item No. (3): Authorize award of Contract No. 2026-D-060, NEOGOV HR Suite, to Governmentjobs.com, Inc. (dba NEOGOV) — staff report
Cleveland Public Library in Ohio chose Jobvite in 2023 and renewed it in 2025 for 27 more months, for a total fee of $142,946. The board papers say the library's HR department "is satisfied with the Jobvite applicant tracking system". At the meeting, a trustee said she had heard from people that applying for library jobs "can be difficult"; the library's director replied that "JobVite has ended many of those complaints." The papers don't say what the renewal fee covers.
What data has to move?
Decide what must come across: open jobs, past applications, candidate records, templates, reports. Ask every vendor how they will move it, who does the work, and what happens to anything that can't move. Also ask your current vendor how you get your data out.
West Midlands Employers in the UK wrote its tender so it could either keep its existing system or replace it. If it replaced it, the new supplier had to provide "Experienced Project Management to manage an applicant tracking system migration (i.e. full data migration) from the current e-Recruitment system if required."
Washington State said any rival to NeoGov had to show it could provide "a non-intrusive migration path of all NeoGov data to their system."
Source: W155 West Midlands E Recruitment Service Applicant Tracking System — contract award notice (F03); Department of Enterprise Services sole source posting: NeoGov (careers.wa.gov / OLRS), December 22, 2025
What other systems are affected?
List what the ATS connects to today: your HR or payroll system, staff sign-in, job boards, background checks. A new ATS has to work with all of them, and each connection is something to set up and test again.
Midpeninsula said its new system would allow a connection to its existing Munis finance system.
Washington State's current system already had sign-in through Microsoft Entra ID, built with NeoGov, which a replacement would have to match.
Source: R-26-109: Award of Contract to NEOGOV for a Recruitment and Applicant Tracking System — staff report; Draft minutes, Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors, Board Meeting 26-18 (July 8, 2026); Department of Enterprise Services sole source posting: NeoGov (careers.wa.gov / OLRS), December 22, 2025
Is another change already coming?
If your organization plans to replace its HR system soon, and that system might include recruiting, switching ATS now could mean switching twice. Find out what's planned before you commit to a long contract either way.
Washington State, which has used NeoGov since 2010, posted a notice that it intended to award NeoGov a contract without competition. It said "OneWA's WorkDay application may replace NeoGov in a few years, and it would be poor stewardship to change to something now and then change again in a few years to WorkDay." The notice gave other vendors ten working days to show they could meet the state's needs. We haven't confirmed that the contract was signed.
What does switching cost beyond the software?
The yearly fee is only part of it. Setup, training, moving data and your own staff time can add up. Ask for these costs separately so you can compare them, and remember that staying may avoid most of them.
Greater Cleveland RTA's recommended UKG price was $105,000 a year for three years, plus a one-time $32,000 for implementation and training.
What these examples can and can't tell you
These are a handful of documented decisions, not a survey. The clearest replace-or-keep cases here are all US public organizations, and none of them gave a full cost of switching. They show the kinds of reasons buyers give, not what most buyers do or what you should do.