The offer comes with a catch, however. Customers will get the CRM licenses at no charge, but must pay annual maintenance costs on them, a spokesman said.

In addition, companies must buy at least 15 "application professional" and 15 "application limited professional" licenses for the ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications. The offer is available until Dec. 18.

Business All-in-One is one of three lower-end ERP product lines sold by SAP beyond its flagship ERP application. It also markets Business One, which is for small companies, and is mounting an incremental rollout of Business ByDesign, an on-demand suite with a wide range of functional modules.

SAP's CRM discount offer is no doubt an effort to shore up slumping license sales amid the dismal economy. But it could also be an indication that customers aren't pleased with Business All-in-One's native CRM functionality, which SAP added in May 2008, said 451 Group analyst China Martens.

Overall, though, SAP's announcement was just the latest move this week by a major vendor to court midmarket customers.