Thick-client applications remain essential to many organisations across sectors like finance, retail, healthcare, and the public sector. These desktop-based tools are often business-critical, tightly integrated with legacy systems, and preferred for their speed and offline capabilities. But because they’re installed locally, they often fall outside the scope of front-end monitoring tools, leaving IT teams blind to the user experience.
That’s where Ekara digital experience monitoring (DEM) comes in.
Ekara, the only European solution named in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Experience Monitoring, was recognized as the “only solution assessed that included thick-client application monitoring”.
With its synthetic transaction monitoring (STM) gain full visibility into the actual experience of employees and agents using thick-client apps in the office, on virtual desktops (VDI), or in the field.
Thick clients are applications installed locally on a user’s machine that handle most processing on the client side. Unlike web-based apps, they don’t run in a browser, although they may connect to remote services or databases. For example, a claims management tool or ERP system accessed via Citrix still counts as a thick client—even if the interface is streamed through a browser-based session.
Thick-client applications can operate on internal networks (intranets) or securely connect to external systems via the internet. In either case, monitoring with the Ekara Business Apps offer adapts to the connectivity environment while preserving performance and security.
Monitoring thick-client applications often means dealing with sensitive user data and regulated environments. That’s why our front-end monitoring tools are designed with security at the core. From anonymised data collection to safe credential handling and compatibility with compliance frameworks, we help you monitor critical workflows without compromising security or privacy. Get in touch to find out more.
You can find further details and additional success stories in our white paper on Monitoring Business Applications.
A European regional energy company with enterprise applications (ERP, CRM), Office software suite, Citrix platform, and business-specific applications decided to set up end-user monitoring to measure application service levels in real time.
After its DEM specialist set up Ekara synthetic monitoring robots at two locations, the energy company was able to observe differences in application performance between the two sites. Location-related problems were clearly identified through analysis of the response time and availability metrics supplied by the robots.
An organism responsible for validating pharmaceutical products relies on Citrix-delivered business applications for workforce productivity. Their small IT team decided to partially outsource IT service needs.
Internal users complained that the applications they were accessing via Citrix were slow. To determine whether the problem arose from internal IT or on the technology provider’s side, they set up Ekara digital experience monitoring to check their Citrix-delivered applications.
With the resulting metrics, IT was able to prove to the technology provider that service was objectively slow, and that the quality of service fell short of the specifications in the SLA.
With Ekara monitoring solutions, you can bring thick-client applications into your digital experience strategy. Improve performance, reduce downtime, and empower your teams with visibility that goes beyond the back end.