What Is a Desktop Application? +Challenges, Use Cases (2024)

• Digital Transformation, IT Optimization

• July 28, 2022

If you’re looking to add another application to your business toolkit, you need to know the difference between desktop applications and web-based ones.

Desktop apps are the right choice for organizations that value privacy and efficiency. Find more information on desktop applications in the guide below.

As a user, should it matter to you whether an application has to offer a desktop version or not? As a developer, should you build a desktop or web-based app?

To answer both questions, we’ll take a look at the peculiarities of desktop and SaaS web-based applications.

Desktop applications have a lot of benefits:

• Users don’t need an internet connection to access them
• They’re considered safer options since all the user data is stored on their machines
• Processes are typically executed faster on desktop apps

So is a desktop app better than a web app? Not necessarily. Web-based applications have the features desktop apps lack:

• They don’t require high processing power from the user’s device
• They’re self-updating
• They’re accessible from any device with an internet connection, no installation needed

Web-based apps are indeed simpler and don’t require much effort from businesses using them. They’re usually geared towards the needs of small businesses and growing startups. On the contrary, desktop apps are usually built for mid-sized companies and enterprises.

Apps like Slack and Miro have both desktop and web-based versions. This is perhaps the best solution for app developers and users that want to take the best of both worlds.

First off, it’s independence. All your internal procedures and customer-facing business processes can be seriously affected by an interrupted internet connection when you use web-based apps.

With desktop software, you aren’t exposed to situations that you can’t control.

Desktop software is more reliable than web SaaS apps. You have total control over your desktop applications since they aren’t exposed on the web.

It’s safer to keep confidential business information and customer data on your own server. Content stored in the cloud can easily be hacked and leaked to the web, but files saved on your PC cannot. If you want to reduce the risk of security threats, you should definitely consider using desktop applications.

Healthcare organizations, like hospitals and private clinics, always rely on desktop applications. It helps them to protect their patients’ sensitive data.

Examples of desktop applications used in the healthcare industry include:

• Electronic health record (EHR) software — it helps clinics to manage patients, store their medical history, and automate workflows. It’s like a CRM system in the world of healthcare.

• Medical database software — this type of software is similar to EHR software, but it focuses on building a large-scale medical database compiling and analyzing disease and treatment data to study drug side effects and benefits and create better treatment plans.
• Medical equipment management systems — these help healthcare organizations monitor the functionality of equipment, schedule maintenance, and generate repair requests.
• Medical diagnosis software — these systems use AI to handle the diagnostic process and ensure high precision.
• Hospital management software — these are software systems that facilitate all the day-to-day operations in hospitals. They enable process automation, facilitate patient management, assess the quality of service provided, assist in financial and administrative functions, and handle other tasks critical in hospital administration.

Data safety and uninterrupted processes are the key priorities for financial institutions, like banks and insurance companies. Therefore, these companies are the most frequent users of desktop applications such as:

• Core banking software — these systems create a complete digital infrastructure for all the banking operations, from client management to fraud prevention.

• Underwriting software — these are solutions used by insurers and loan companies for case management and making lending decisions.

• Document management software — these solutions allow organizations to receive, store, and manage digital documents to reduce paper.

• Teller management systems — financial institutions use them to perform day-to-day tasks, like client management, staff operations, deposit processing, etc.

• CRM software — in banking and insurance, CRM systems consolidate all the customer data from multiple business software solutions to create a single view of every customer profile.

• Accounting software — these systems allow financial organizations to manage transactions and control cash flow without relying on web-based solutions.
• Insurance software — these are dedicated apps used by insurance companies to streamline workflows, handle underwriting and claims processing, detect fraudulent activities, and perform other day-to-day activities.

Desktop applications allow government and public sector organizations to secure sensitive data and reduce the risk of cyber attacks. Here are some of the software solutions they might use:

• Contractor management systems — government organizations often work with contractors, and this is where they can safely manage outsourced projects.
• Employee management software — these are workforce management systems where government and public sector companies can monitor performance, assign tasks, store employee data, and streamline employee payroll processes.

• Performance management solutions — these are dedicated apps for employee and contractor performance tracking.

• Document management applications — more and more government organizations are aiming toward becoming paperless and digitalizing document management. These applications eliminate the need for physical paper management and create a modern digital environment for storing electronic documents.

• Funding management software — also known as grant management software, these applications assist nonprofit organizations in managing the entire grant lifecycle, from engaging with grantees to creating award reports.
• Risk management software — as nonprofits and charities often face risks associated with fundraising fraud and theft, they turn to risk management software to maintain control over all areas of the business.

The use cases of desktop applications aren’t limited to these three industries though. For instance, restaurants and physical shops use desktop applications to ensure uninterrupted customer-facing processes (e.g. transactions) and deliver an excellent customer experience.

You might want to implement desktop software regardless of your industry and business size.

Your digital adoption strategy for a new desktop app should cover the overview of the platform, use cases, best practices, and troubleshooting tips. Depending on the complexity of the platform and its scale, you might need to run a workshop, create video tutorials, add documentation to your knowledge base, and/or provide in-app training. The latter is a must for every organization willing to adopt new technology without spending hours on in-person training.

To create a custom in-app training program, you’ll need a digital adoption platform (DAP) like Whatfix.

DAP is an application that fully integrates with your desktop software and provides users with in-app guidance. It displays tips, feature descriptions, best practices, onboarding guides, and troubleshooting advice right within the app interface.

These are five ways you can use Whatfix DAP to train your teams on new technology.

Enable your desktop application users with Whatfix's in-app guidance and contextual user support

More and more companies are switching to web-based apps from desktop software. However, desktop applications still have to offer a range of benefits to companies that value security and stability.

If you’re ready to unlock the value of desktop applications, make sure to start with a proper digital adoption strategy. Connect your new desktop app to Whatfix DAP to enable your teams to tap into all the benefits of the new technology.