Local teams serve Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. Call (604) 813-7881 for a free consult with Tony. No pressure, no jargon.
Dental IT Support Plans and Pricing: no surprise invoices
Surprise IT invoices? Here’s one flat rate for dental clinics in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.
One flat monthly rate per computer. Help desk, monitoring, backups, security and on-site visits, looked after by one team. No surprise invoices.
How much does managed IT support cost for a dental clinic?
Our managed plans are a flat monthly rate of $55 to $125 per PC per month. That covers a help desk, monitoring, on-site visits, 3-2-1 backups, firewall and switch care, DHCP and Hyper-V management, and security awareness training. We confirm your exact rate in writing after a short conversation, so you know the number before you decide.
- $55 to $125per PC per month, one flat rate
- 24/7emergency line (604) 813-7881, answered by a person
- Under 2 hrsto restore a failed server from local storage
- 30 daysbackup copies stay locked
Dentist or office manager? What each of you gets.
If you own the clinic
- A number you can budget. One flat rate per PC, confirmed in writing before you decide.
- No meter running. You don’t pay extra to call us when something breaks.
- Projects quoted separately. New cabling or a renovation gets its own written quote.
If you run the office
- One number to call. A person answers, and a local tech comes in when it needs hands.
- A monthly report card. See how the team did on security quizzes.
- We call vendors for you. You stop being the go-between.
What a managed plan includes
Everything below is part of the plan. You don’t pay extra to call us when something breaks.
Help desk
Call or message us when something is wrong. A person answers. Regular hours are Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm MT, and our emergency line is answered 24/7 by a person.
Monitoring
We provide 24/7 monitoring of your computers, servers and network, with email and SMS alerts to our team. Huntress, a separate security team, works alongside us. Many problems are caught before the front desk notices.
On-site visits
When something needs hands, a local technician comes to your clinic.
3-2-1 backups
Three copies, two kinds of storage, one copy offsite in Vancouver, BC. We do spot checks on multiple copies of the backups and a yearly disaster recovery test.
Firewall and switch maintenance
Your Cisco Meraki MX firewall with Advanced Security is the lock on your internet front door. We keep it, and the switches that connect every room, updated and healthy.
DHCP and Hyper-V management
DHCP hands every device its address. Hyper-V runs your server in a safer way. We manage both.
Security awareness training
Quizzes for your team and a monthly report card. If someone fails a quiz, management is told instantly.
Why it matters, in plain words
A few parts of the plan sound technical. Here’s why each one is there.
Immutable backups
Why a backup you can delete isn’t enough
Ransomware looks for backups before it locks the clinic. Copies locked for 30 days can’t be changed or deleted during that window.
Business firewall
Why the internet company’s router isn’t a firewall
An ISP router connects you. A business firewall decides what gets in, keeps guest Wi-Fi apart and gets security updates. That’s the firewall care in your plan.
Read more: Why the internet company’s router isn’t a firewall
Multi-factor sign in
Why a stolen password shouldn’t open your email
Most break-ins start with a password someone typed into a fake page. A second check on a phone or key stops most of them.
Also in plain words: RAID 10, DNS filtering and Hyper-V. See all the guides.
The environment we build around
Clinics grow, and one-off setups get outgrown. This foundation is built to grow with you, and one team looks after all of it. Read Is your clinic outgrowing its IT setup?
- Hyper-V, not bare metal, with RAID 10 storage, our recommendation. RAID 6 is the budget option, with more usable space per dollar.
- Gigabit, wired. 1GbE is the standard baseline. With a CBCT, consider 10GbE.
- Room to grow. We never build to a vendor’s bare minimum.
- ITIL style care. Planned changes with a tested rollback, incidents logged and reviewed, and 24/7 monitoring.
- A right-sized firewall. A Cisco Meraki MX firewall with Advanced Security, matched to your internet speed (1 Gbps with IDS and IPS switched on), so it’s never throttled. Fast traffic between networks, such as 10GbE for a CBCT, is routed by the Layer 3 switch, not the firewall.
- Servers laid out properly. At least 2 virtual servers: one for sign in (the domain controller) and one dedicated app server. Apps never run on the domain controller. One domain controller is our usual setup for clinics that can handle a few hours of downtime, backed by tested restores. If you can’t afford any downtime, we offer a second one, and we explain the trade-off up front so the choice is yours. We license Windows Server Standard or Datacenter edition to cover them. Connecting people and devices also need Windows Server access licenses (CALs), and remote desktop sessions need RDS CALs. We confirm what you need.
- Secure by default. Full-disk encryption is on by default, unless a software vendor requires otherwise. In that case we follow the vendor and make sure you know it’s a software restriction. Updates are applied weekly. Remote desktop is never exposed to the internet.
- Ready for the bad day. We ask how long the clinic can be down and how much data it can lose. We recommend a battery backup (UPS) and a second internet link, and we help you prepare a front desk downtime plan. See what happens when something fails.
- Built to be reviewed. Well documented, properly specified equipment is easier to show your insurer. Insurance terms differ, so it’s worth checking with your insurer. This isn’t legal advice.
2 virtual servers
One for sign in, one dedicated app server. Never apps on the domain controller.
RAID 10 storage
Keeps working if a drive fails.
SSD drives
Faster loading for charts and images.
Cisco Meraki MX firewall
With Advanced Security on and matched to your internet speed, 1 Gbps with protection on, so it’s never throttled.
PoE switches
One cable powers phones and Wi-Fi, for a tidy network.
VLANs and Layer 3
Keeps patient Wi-Fi apart from imaging and the server.
What every clinic should have
Here’s the short list we’d want in any clinic we look after. It’s a good checklist for a quote or a second opinion too.
- Hyper-V for production servers. Backups and restores are quicker, the server can move to new hardware without a rebuild, and updates can be tested safely first. The domain controller and the app server stay apart.
- Tested backups with an offsite copy. The 3-2-1 plan: three copies, two kinds of storage, one offsite. RAID keeps a server running when a drive fails, but it isn’t a backup. We do spot checks on multiple copies of the backups and a yearly disaster recovery test.
- Multi-factor sign-in. On email and on remote access, so a stolen password is far less useful.
- Remote desktop never exposed to the internet. Remote access goes through a secured, protected path instead.
- Regular patching. We do it weekly, around your clinic hours.
- Endpoint protection with 24/7 monitoring. Our security operations team (SOC) watches around the clock and sends text alerts when something looks wrong. Huntress, a separate security team, works alongside us.
- A Cisco Meraki MX firewall with Advanced Security, sized to your internet speed. It shouldn’t become the bottleneck when protection is switched on.
- Separate networks (VLANs). Guests, phones and clinical devices each get their own lane, with rules for what may connect.
- Apps on their own server. Your practice software doesn’t run on the domain controller.
- A written plan for downtime. How long can the clinic be down, and how much data can it lose? We help you answer both, so everyone knows.
We also recommend, depending on your clinic
- 10GbE for a CBCT. Big 3D images load more smoothly on a faster network.
- A UPS (battery backup). It gives the server time to shut down cleanly and rides through short dips.
- A second internet link. A backup connection can keep claims, email and cloud tools going if the first one drops.
- Enterprise SSDs. They are built for steady server workloads. Whether you need them depends on your clinic.
Every clinic is a little different, so we’re happy to go through this list with you. See also Is your clinic outgrowing its IT setup?
What it costs
A flat monthly rate of $55 to $125 per PC per month. Flat means the same bill each month, not a bill that jumps when something breaks. Projects such as new clinic cabling are quoted separately. See new clinic IT setup.
Do you do break/fix?
No, except in special circumstances. We work best when we look after your whole setup every day, so problems are prevented and not only repaired. What we do offer is one free break/fix assessment.
- We come and take a look at your environment, at no charge.
- We tell you plainly what we see. We can’t guarantee a result, because every environment is a mix of different equipment and software.
- We assume your clinic already follows proper IT practices, the kind set out in current Microsoft documentation and in ITIL guidance. Where it doesn’t, we say so.
- If it makes sense, the assessment can lead to a conversation about a managed relationship. There is no pressure.
Travel fee for the free assessment
The one-time free break/fix assessment has a $150 travel fee in the City of Vancouver area and the City of Edmonton area. Managed clients don’t pay it. There’s no travel fee in Calgary, because we’re local.
Hardware we work with
We work with Dell, HPE, Lenovo, Micron and Supermicro. We’re a reseller of this hardware, which means we earn a margin when you buy through us. We recommend what fits your clinic, and we’ll tell you why. You are also welcome to buy hardware elsewhere and ask us to look it over first.
Plans in your city
Our Vancouver team works from an office on Seymour St. Our Edmonton team comes to your clinic, and the Edmonton address we list is for mail only. Our Calgary IT specialists are local, with no walk-in office, so we come to you. We also serve clinics in Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Delta and Langley, in St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Morinville and Whitecourt near Edmonton, and in Airdrie and Cochrane near Calgary. Using Dentrix, ClearDent, Tracker, Curve, Open Dental, AkituOne or ABELDent? See our software pages.
Support plan questions
How much does a managed plan cost?
A flat monthly rate of $55 to $125 per PC per month. We confirm your rate in writing after a short conversation.
Can our team message you?
Yes. Every clinic gets its own group chat with dedicated technicians, so your whole team can reach us in one place. We support WhatsApp, Slack, Google Chat and Microsoft Teams. It’s for IT help, so keep patient details out of the chat.
Is the free assessment a guarantee?
No. Every environment is a mix of different equipment and software, so we can’t guarantee a result. We’ll tell you honestly what we find.
Is there a travel fee?
Only the one-time free break/fix assessment has one: $150 in the City of Vancouver area and the City of Edmonton area. Managed clients don’t pay a travel fee, and there’s none in Calgary because we’re local.