"Having the three-legged stool brings deep subject-matter expertise and the deep relationships required to engage the appropriate stakeholders," he says. "The combination is critical."

Accenture's Shelton agrees. "Once we start the race, there is only one color jersey," she says. "If somebody falls, we pick him up and keep on going. We all have to cross the finish line to win."

Sidebar

Prologue to a successful outsourcing effort

Mark Jeffery, associate professor of technology at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, says Marriott is doing lots of things right in how it manages outsourced projects. He says, however, that for less-savvy companies, "the seeds of failure are sown early."