One midsize company, Serena Software, believes it can save money by switching over its systems to SaaS (software as a service)-based offerings, such as Gmail, said René Bonvanie, a senior vice president. The move also reflects the company's decision to begin selling its products, which include project portfolio management tools, on a SaaS basis.

The maintenance renewal on Serena's SAP ERP platform is coming up in March, Bonvanie said. The Redwood City, California, company would like to move to Business ByDesign, SAP's nascent on-demand ERP product, but may also seek out less-expensive third-party maintenance or another ERP option, like NetSuite, according to Bonvanie.

SAP recently announced that all customers would be transitioned to a richer-featured but more expensive Enterprise Support offering. Bonvanie said he has heard that some SAP customers are even considering going off maintenance for a year.

"It is a somewhat dangerous strategy because so much of my business process depends on SAP, but if I look back over the last four years, have I ever really needed [maintenance]?" he said. "It is a very expensive tax to pay."

Meanwhile, vendors are keeping mostly mum about their bargaining strategies.

"These are indeed extraordinary times, but as a matter of corporate policy we don't publicly discuss our pricing models, as we consider this proprietary information between SAP and its customers," said SAP spokesman Saswato Das.

However, SAP executive board member Bill McDermott said adamantly during an interview this week that SAP is not cutting deals on maintenance. "There's been a lot of rumors that really aren't true about pricing," he said. "We don't negotiate about maintenance, ever."

Oracle spokeswoman Karen Tillman declined comment on whether the company is offering steeper discounts.

While it has been a buyer's market overall for some time, vendors probably won't be equally amenable to every client, said John Hanson, a senior executive with Accenture who advises vendors on their pricing strategies.

"Tactically, the high-performance ISVs are going to be really thinking really hard about who their best customers are," he said. "I don't just mean high-revenue volume, but those who have helped them collaborate well and made their products better. They'll go to those guys and say, 'You're a valued partner, and here's how we want to help you get through this.'"