Other third-party maintenance companies include netCustomer, which supports JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and Siebel.

Venture carefully into SaaS contracts

The growing maturity of SaaS (software as a service) applications may inspire more companies to consider products from the likes of Salesforce and NetSuite, hoping to gain the oft-vaunted cost savings of the delivery model.

Forrester Research analyst Ray Wang predicts that SaaS vendors may trend toward offering month-to-month subscriptions. "Companies want to lower the barrier to entry and avoid the perception of lock-in. This also allows companies to explore strategies before they commit," he said via e-mail.

Customers who do choose a SaaS product should make sure they have an "escape plan," Scavo said.