Kenexa complements IBM's strategy of bringing relevant data and expertise into the hands of business leaders within every functional department, from sales and marketing to product development and human resources. As a result of this synergy, clients will be able to attract and develop the right skills to build the right teams, for the right projects, the first time.

What that also means is IBM will be over 9000 customers rich overnight with the sale spanning across financial services, pharmaceuticals, retail and consumer that has a global reach of over 20 countries, including more than half of the Fortune 500.

This forms in-line with IBM study that reveals that 57 percent of CEOs identified social business as a top priority and more than 73 percent are making significant investments to draw insights into available data. The survey also reveals that 70 percent cite human capital as the single biggest contributor to sustained economic value. The combined strengths of IBM and Kenexa are key differentiators at a time when organizations of all sizes are looking to increase workforce efficiencies and gain more insight from their business information. 

The transaction has been approved unanimously by the Kenexa Board of Directors and the Kenexa Board of Directors recommends that Kenexa shareholders approve the transaction.

"Every company, across every business operation, is looking to tap into the power of social networking to transform the way they work, collaborate and out innovate their competitors," said Alistair Rennie, general manager, social business, IBM.