Ken,
Please allow me to address each item separately.
Number of links on each page - from my general studies and experience seo, I refrain from using more than 100 links on each page. This is done because Google may view your linking as spammy and may hurt your overall search rankings.
Categories - Make sure that you avoid over-using the same keyword in your categories as this can cause serious issues with Google where it can view such method as keyword stuffing. This can also cause problems down the road with diluting the value of your targeted keywords.
With CRM software like Wordpress, you are able to change your permalink structure via the Permalinks tab. Check your CRM software to see if you are able to customize the link structures to avoid running into this issue.
One important note, when working with a new site it's always a best practice to analyze your keywords and to plan out a map of your site with all pages and urls planned out. This will help you to avoid problems down the road.
I am working on a site right now that had poor categorization and now it is quite a challenge to restructure the links into new categories as this will most often break links which can set you back in terms of seo effort.
Whenever forwarding links always keep in mind that you must always use a proper 301 permanent redirect whenever changing links.
Also you may wish update your sitemap file and submit your site to Google Webmaster.
Hope this helps.
