How We Compare · The honest difference
How Trigon Heights differs from the three real alternatives Houston practices use today.
Most marketing-led MSP comparisons cherry-pick weak competitors. Here's the honest version — the three actual options Houston practice owners are choosing between.
The Generalist Local MSP
Most common Houston option
- Works with every kind of small business — doesn't specialize in healthcare
- "HIPAA-aware" usually means a templated checklist, not a real Risk Assessment
- Knows your computers; doesn't know Cloud9, Dolphin, Greyfinch, Tops
- Hourly billing or "block hours" that run out mid-quarter
- You meet the owner once, then a junior tech
Trigon Heights
Built for orthodontic practices
- Healthcare-specialty MSP — orthodontic depth, not "healthcare-ish"
- Real HIPAA Risk Assessment, not a templated form
- Direct expertise in Cloud9, Dolphin, Greyfinch, Tops, OrthoTrac, Open Dental — plus OrthoFi billing integration
- Predictable monthly pricing — month-to-month after 90 days
- Founder stays in the deal. Same person across years.
Solo IT Person + DIY
Practice tech-handler model
- One person carries everything — and no backup when they're out
- Reactive by design — fixes what breaks, can't prevent
- No HIPAA documentation framework, no audit trail
- No vendor relationships — pays retail on phones, internet, security
- When they leave, the practice's IT knowledge leaves with them
The bigger picture: what you're actually buying.
Most Houston practices have been working with a generalist local MSP for 3-7 years and quietly know it isn't quite right. The question isn't whether they're competent — many are. The question is whether they've ever deeply understood orthodontic IT.
Trigon Heights's bet is simple: specialty depth beats generalist breadth in healthcare IT. When your imaging server fails, you want the IT firm that's already restored 30 of them — not the one figuring it out for the first time on your data.
An honest note: there are good MSPs in every category above. Some of them might be the right answer for your practice — and we'll tell you so on the discovery call if that's the case. The point of this page isn't to claim Trigon Heights is the only option. It's to make sure you're choosing knowingly, with full information about the tradeoffs.
Ready to see how onboarding works?
Discovery call → assessment → proposal → onboarded. Three weeks total.