Desktop vs Web-Based Applications

These days, most competitors to ClinicOffice are web-based i.e. interactive web-sites which run in a web browser.

ClinicOffice on the other hand is proud to be a full Microsoft Windows Desktop application.

In truth, ClinicOffice offers the best of both worlds. The core ClinicOffice application is 100% Desktop, but the optional Online Diary add-on is a web-based program. This allows ClinicOffice to leverage the benefits of both types of software.

Advantages of Desktop Applications

Click here to see the advantages of desktop applications...

Performance
Desktop software will always be faster than web-based software. With a web-based program, the user interface (UI) is rendered as a web-page in a web-browser, which constantly needs to be reloaded and refreshed from a remote web-server. A desktop UI runs natively on the operating system which is much faster.
Power
When coding a desktop application, developers have far more control, power and flexibility available to them. This results in a much richer and more powerful user interface than is possible with web-based software.
Data Security / Privacy
With desktop software, you have the option of a “local-install”. This means the data only exists on your infrastructure and doesn’t leave your premises.
Customisation
The way web-based applications work is that a single instance of the application runs on a web-server, and serves all clients connecting to that server. This means all clients run the same program, making it very hard to customize the program for each client. By contrast, with desktop programs, each client runs their own instance making it much more customisable for each client.

Advantages of Web-Based Software

What are the advantages of web-based applications?

Simplicity
Web-based software must be compatible with a raft of browsers and devices, hence is best kept simple.
Portability
Web-based software is “in the cloud” and therefore accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
Inexpensive
A single web-server machine can host hundreds of clients, hence prices are lower.

Case Study: How Customizable is ClinicOffice?

“A picture speaks 1000 words”. The screenshots below all show the main Patient Editor screen on different client’s databases.

Notice how each clinic has customized their patient screen to suit their own requirements. And it doesn’t stop there. You can fully customize contacts, staff members, appointments, invoices… and many other screens in ClinicOffice.

This powerful functionality is possible because ClinicOffice is a desktop application.

Patient Editor Screen

(Tip: click on the images below to see the full screenshot.)

ClinicOffice Online Diary – The Best of Both Worlds

As mentioned in the introduction, ClinicOffice actually offers the best of both worlds.

While the core ClinicOffice application is “100% Desktop”, we offer an optional Online Diary add-on which is a web-based program. This allows us to leverage the benefits of both types of software.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions or if you need any more information, please give our friendly sales team a call on 01205 205500 and we’ll be happy to assist you.

Click here for other ways to contact us.