But he, too, concurred that the situation presents opportunities for smaller companies.

"I think there's a real opportunity for earlier-stage companies to do a piece of that and do it really, really well," said Oliver.

In pursuing this vision, companies would need to think about exactly what an ERP system is, said Gaughan. But existing major vendors, such as IBM, CA, Hewlett-Packard and Mercury Interactive, are saddled by already having a slew of products they need to sell, he noted.

"[These companies'] visions are much colored by the portfolio of products that they already have," Gaughan said.

Users, however, will not rip out what they already have but are looking for a system for better visibility and forecasting, Gaughan said.