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What are the key advan­tages of web based appli­ca­tions over desk­top ones?  Will the main­te­nance and sup­port work bet­ter? Will I have access to my data at all times?

  • A desk­top appli­ca­tion requires PC knowl­edge for the user and sup­port from IT to main­tain the oper­at­ing sys­tem and installed appli­ca­tions. Web based appli­ca­tions sim­ply require a web brows­er to log on to the appli­ca­tion.
  • A desk­top appli­ca­tion stores the data in a data­base that resides on a net­work or shared dri­ve that requires IT sup­port. The back­ups must be sched­uled and man­aged by local IT. Web based appli­ca­tions are man­aged by the ven­dor and do not require local IT sup­port.
  • Some users have dif­fi­cul­ty find­ing and access­ing their data, if they are not famil­iar with where the data­base is specif­i­cal­ly locat­ed. Web based appli­ca­tions always point the user to their indi­vid­ual data with­out them hav­ing to locate it on a serv­er or anoth­er dri­ve loca­tion.
  • Desk­top appli­ca­tions must be installed on each indi­vid­ual user’s work­sta­tions. In large depart­ment, with many work­sta­tions, this may take up valu­able IT resources. And, users can only use the appli­ca­tion on installed work­sta­tions. Web based appli­ca­tions can be accessed any­where via the inter­net on a PC, Mac, iPad or iPhone.
  • IT must per­form all upgrades and main­te­nance updates on desk­top appli­ca­tions. Web based appli­ca­tion updates and upgrades are man­aged by the ven­dor with min­i­mal down­time.
  • In desk­top appli­ca­tions new fea­tures may not work in old­er oper­at­ing sys­tems. In web based appli­ca­tions, users get the ben­e­fit of new fea­tures imme­di­ate­ly when they login to their sys­tem.
  • Desk­top appli­ca­tions require users to enter CD keys to ini­tial­ly gain access to their appli­ca­tions for licens­ing pur­pos­es. Web based appli­ca­tions sim­ply require a user name and pass­word.

In short, web based appli­ca­tions are eas­i­er to deploy, main­tain, and sup­port. They are more read­i­ly acces­si­ble to a vari­ety of devices and require very lit­tle IT sup­port and involve­ment.