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| Ninth Question | What’s the difference between Web-based and Web-enabled and why does it matter?
With a web-based solution, users can access the application from any browser. It is not required that the computer be running any particular browser or operating system. Due to its software independence, a web-based solution provides widespread accessibility for clients, customers, and remote offices. Web-based solutions reduce costly software maintenance and increases usability.
A web-enabled solution uses a web browser as an interface to access an underlying application. In addition, client software must be installed on each computer before running the application. Therefore, when the software needs to be upgraded, each client computer must install the upgrade.
In addition, with a web-enabled solution, the application often depends on a specific browser to be running on a particular operating system. Organizations, and even departments within organizations, often run various operating systems and web browsers. Due to its software dependency, a web-enabled solution is not available for geographically disperse offices or clients running different applications or versions of applications.
What to ask vendors:
• Is the solution completely web-based, or web-enabled?
• Must we install any software on the client’s desktop?
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