"Everyone used to come to me and say, 'My computer doesn't work right. Where's this file? How do I do this?' " says Robert M. Young, owner of Mountain View, California–based All Premium. Taking his promotional-products design and print shop from a hand-operated garage to a 7,000-square-foot, fully automated factory staffed by more than 20 people forced Young to hire an IT contractor—at $150 per hour.

The experience was a nightmare. "My server's crashing right and left, and the software still doesn't work right," Young says.

And the problems don't have to be nearly so dramatic—even minor headaches like hobbled PCs, broken print servers, and strangled Internet connections can cripple your business. That's why the IT labor market is so brutally tight—every company competes for qualified IT professionals. One-fourth of the country's CIOs intend to hire additional people this quarter. But they might be in for a shock when they see the price tag: The average help-desk employee pulls in around $40,000 per year, while network administrators each take about $60,000.

This is where outsourcing comes in. By offering economies of scale, outsourcing companies can afford to pay IT professionals what they demand and provide companies with the support services they need. More than 40 percent of businesses outsource part of their infrastructure (and the personnel that go along with it), and that figure is expected to grow to 80 percent by 2002, says The Yankee Group.

That's what Young did with All Premium. He fired his IT contractor and called in Everdream, an IT outsourcing business. The company set up new computers and swapped some faulty network cable that had plagued the previous system. "Within the following day, the bugs were worked out," says Young.

$150 an hour for tech support? Robert M. Young, owner of design and print shop All Premium, found a better way: IT outsourcer Everdream supplies the hardware and the expertise for a flat fee.

And he continues to see the benefits: Everdream has already rescued All Premium with two critical database backups, saved the company at least $200 a month in Internet connection costs thanks to its DSL, and given Young the invaluable peace of mind of having a healthy network.

Of course, contracting for IT services is nothing new—but having choices is. Aside from companies like Everdream and CenterBeam, another IT outsourcer that will equip your entire office, you'll now find inexpensive services to keep your business running smoothly with tech support over the Web. Available per user, per month, or per incident, these services can benefit even the smallest company—and large ones in a pinch.

Ziff Davis Smart Business Labs recently tested these new services that cater to the IT needs of smaller businesses—four help-desk services and two new auction sites in which tech experts bid against one another to solve your problems. Our testers were experienced Windows and Internet users who come from a professional services background. They were given a variety of hardware- and software-related problems to solve using the different services.