What Is a Desktop Application? +Challenges, Use Cases

Application owners must know the difference between desktop and web-based applications. Desktop apps are often the preferred implementation choice for enterprise organizations that value privacy, compliance, and efficiency, like government, healthcare, insurance, and financial services.

In this article, we’ll explore desktop applications and what makes them different from web-based apps. We’ll also highlight the challenges of desktop apps and break down common use cases.

Desktop vs. Web-Based SaaS Applications

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 who want to take the best of both worlds.

What Are Examples of Desktop Applications?

• Browsers like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari.
• Photo and video editing software like Adobe Photoshop, Premier Pro, iMovie, and DaVinci Resolve.
• Programming software like MS Visual Studio, IntelliJ IDEA, and Eclipse.
• Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

6 Challenges with Desktop Applications

Desktop apps aren’t flawless. When you purchase a desktop app for your internal team, there are a few challenges you should anticipate:

1. Need constant updates

Contrary to web SaaS, desktop software isn’t self-updating. As part of routine application governance, you must give consent and update apps manually to access the latest versions. This can be a time-consuming task that often disrupts business processes and workflows.

2. Integration with other technologies

To integrate several web apps, you don’t need any technical skills. Most often, you can go for a built-in integration or use Zapier to build simple workflows. Integrating a desktop app with third-party technologies is barely possible if the app doesn’t offer this functionality on its end.

3. Accessing the application

Accessing desktop applications isn’t possible unless they’re installed on your device. So if you want to implement some desktop-based software solution into your system, you’ll need to help everyone involved with the installation and setup process. Moreover, if you happen to be away from your business laptop, you won’t be able to access the app by any means.

4. Managed servers

Most desktop applications require a managed server where the data is stored. Maintaining a server not only increases your expenses but also adds to your system admins’ workload.

5. Employee onboarding

Onboarding and training employees on a desktop application takes time and effort. While being robust and feature-rich, desktop applications are often difficult to navigate. When implementing a new application, you need to develop a detailed onboarding program to enable your teams to get up to speed fast.

6. Resource-intensive

You need to provide your employees with modern and powerful machines to effectively use desktop apps. Sophisticated solutions typically require great processing power to run without disruptions.

3 Reasons Why Enterprises Use Desktop Applications

All things considered, why do enterprises often opt for desktop applications?

1. Independent of network connectivity

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.

2. Privacy, security, and other compliance-related issues

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.

3. Performance

Lastly, desktop apps are just faster. Quality desktop software combined with a powerful device is capable of performing more complex tasks in a shorter time than web-based apps. Financial operations, rendering, and trading — these are just a few examples of the processes only desktop applications can handle effectively. Speaking of which, let’s move on to the most common use cases of desktop software.

3 Examples of Industries that Rely on Desktop Applications

Who needs desktop applications? Below are three industries that usually opt for desktop software.

1. Healthcare companies

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.

2. Financial institutions

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.

3. Government and public sector

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.

5 Ways to Maximize Desktop Application ROI With Whatfix

Desktop applications aren’t only powerful but also complicated. When you implement one, you need to build a proper digital adoption strategy.

Digital adoption is integrating new technology into the business strategy and enabling users to make the most of the solution. It’s the next step post-implementation, and focuses on empowering users to use an application to its fullest potential.

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 platform like Whatfix for Desktop Applications. 

DAP is an application that fully integrates with your desktop software, providing 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 to maximize the value from desktop applications:

1. Hands-On Training in Simulated Desktop Application Environments

Desktop applications power critical business operations, from engineering design and financial modeling to procurement and patient record management. Yet, these systems are complex, and training users in live environments poses a risk for heavily regulated and at-risk industries such as healthcare, financial services, and the public sector.

With Whatfix Mirror, organizations can replicate their desktop applications in fully interactive, sandboxed environments. Employees gain hands-on practice without touching production data, helping them build confidence before rollout. Simulated learning environments allow IT and L&D teams to deliver realistic, scenario-based training that reduces go-live errors, accelerates onboarding, and ensures every user is ready to perform from day one.

With Mirror’s AI Roleplay, provide contextual hands-on practice for employees based on their role and skillset. Invaluable to industries that require hands-on experience but can’t afford risk of real-world mistakes, employees can engage and interact with AI scenarios that adapt in real-time to user input and can assess employee readiness for the real-world.

2. In-App Guidance for Learning in the Flow of Work

Learning shouldn’t be a one-and-done event, but it also shouldn’t negatively impact productivity and work output. Whatfix DAP embeds step-by-step guidance, walkthroughs, and task lists directly inside desktop applications, allowing users to learn while performing their daily tasks. Instead of switching between documentation or relying on memory, employees follow contextual Flows that lead them through each process in real time. This keeps productivity high, reduces dependency on external support, and ensures training happens continuously — not just during onboarding.

3. Just-in-Time User Support Embedded into Application UI

Even skilled employees encounter roadblocks in complex desktop environments. Whatfix provides just-in-time support through contextual Self Help, Pop-Ups, and Smart Tips that surface exactly when a user needs assistance. Whether it’s clarifying a policy, guiding through a new workflow, or explaining a recent feature change, Whatfix eliminates the need for helpdesk tickets and long wait times. Support is provided instantly, directly within the application, minimizing disruptions and enhancing user satisfaction.

4. Centralized Desktop Application Analytics to Track User Actions and Identify Workflow Friction

Without visibility into how employees actually use desktop applications, optimization becomes a matter of guesswork. Whatfix delivers real-time behavioral analytics that reveal how users interact with its in-app guidance, from completed Flows to abandoned tasks. But Whatfix goes far beyond engagement with in-app content, allowing desktop application owners to autotrack all user actions, build user cohorts, track user journeys, and optimize workflows. With a custom event tracking software for desktop applications like Whatfix, desktop app owners can track any custom end-user events and analytic capabilities to analyze usage. This may include:

• Process completion rates
• Dropoffs
• Feature usage
• Time spent in a desktop app
• Form engagement
• User journeys
• User cohorts
• User funnels
• Process adherence and governance

Application owners can pinpoint friction points, inefficient workflows, or compliance risks, then refine processes based on data-driven insights. This continuous feedback loop enables IT and L&D teams to improve user experience, simplify navigation, and ensure the organization gets full value from every desktop investment. It’s essential to remember that desktop applications have stakeholders across various departments, and the metrics that matter to each can vary significantly. The ability to create dashboards relevant to each department and stakeholder is critical.

5. Use AI to Contextualize Desktop Application Experiences

With Whatfix AI, the platform evolves beyond static guidance. It delivers intent-based and contextual experiences that adapt to each user’s role, behavior, and task. Employees receive personalized assistance that predicts what they’re trying to achieve and surfaces the most relevant content, whether that’s a training Flow, knowledge base article, or policy update. For enterprises managing large desktop ecosystems, this transforms user enablement into an intelligent, always-on capability that scales with the organization, ensuring every employee stays productive, confident, and compliant.

Whatfix transforms how enterprises train, support, and enable employees on desktop applications. With Whatfix DAP and Whatfix Mirror, organizations gain an end-to-end solution for driving adoption, efficiency, and ROI across their most complex, mission-critical systems. Mirror delivers safe, simulated environments for hands-on training and scenario-based learning — enabling users to master workflows before they go live. Combined with in-app guidance, contextual Smart Tips, and just-in-time support, employees learn in the flow of work, eliminate costly mistakes, and perform with confidence from day one.

Whatfix empowers IT, operations, and L&D leaders to accelerate onboarding, reduce support volume, and improve time-to-proficiency without disrupting production. Every process becomes measurable and optimizable through Whatfix Analytics, helping teams identify friction, refine workflows, and unlock continuous improvement across desktop systems.

With Whatfix AI, this capability scales even further. Intelligent, intent-based guidance and adaptive learning experiences personalize every user interaction, surfacing the right help, process, or policy exactly when needed. Whatfix transforms desktop applications from static tools into dynamic enablement platforms — maximizing productivity, compliance, and software value realization across the enterprise.

Whatfix is highly secure and enterprise-ready, with zero PII data collection and tracking, is fully ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certified, and is GDPR compliant. We also work with 700+ customers, including 100+ Fortune 1,000 companies that trust Whatfix as their digital adoption and desktop application analytics partner.

Ready to learn more? Explore Whatfix for Desktop Applications today!