CRM Consultants & Implementation Partners in Schaumburg, IL

Avion Technology, Inc. is a software and consulting company headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois. It supports small and mid-sized American businesses, along with some larger enterprises, as they modernize their operating systems. Customer relationship management is a core practice, sitting beside ERP, IT service management, cloud, data and bespoke application development. Organizations that prefer a single partner for both CRM and the back-office platforms connected to it may find that pairing appealing.

CRM and Salesforce Services

The majority of the firm's CRM engagements center on Salesforce. Consultants guide a project from early planning through long-term support. Their coverage includes Sales Cloud for leads, opportunities and forecasts, Marketing Cloud for campaigns, personalization and customer journeys, Agentforce, and MuleSoft for system connectivity. Avion handles brand-new rollouts, and it will also examine existing Salesforce environments that are underperforming. The service catalog includes:

• Strategy and roadmap development tied to business objectives
• Implementation covering architecture, configuration, testing, deployment and user adoption
• Tailored objects, workflows, automation, dashboards and applications
• Connections between Salesforce and ERP, finance, marketing, websites and mobile apps
• Data migration with mapping, cleansing, transformation and validation
• Optimization reviews that uncover configuration and process weaknesses
• Managed services, admin assistance and continuing improvements

The company also explains how a consultant differs from an administrator. An administrator handles daily upkeep of an existing environment, while a consultant takes a wider view that includes design, integration and long-term planning.

How Engagements Run

Avion says it begins with the problem rather than the tool. Its overall approach moves through six phases: understand the business, assess what works and what does not, prioritize through a practical roadmap, implement, automate manual tasks and introduce AI, then operate and evolve the result.

Salesforce work follows a seven-phase sequence: discovery and business analysis, strategy and solution design, configuration and custom development, integration and data migration, testing and user validation, deployment and training, and ongoing optimization. The firm also states that it will say so up front if another platform would be a better fit for a prospective client.

Connected ERP and ITSM Expertise

Because Avion is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central consultancy and an Acumatica partner, it can tie customer data to finance, inventory and operations. Its Business Central practice targets mid-market finance and operations teams replacing older accounting tools or legacy ERP.

Its Acumatica offering covers consulting, implementation, customization, data migration and support, with API links to e-commerce, CRM, EDI and payroll software. The team also rescues Acumatica projects that another partner left unfinished. For IT service management, it provides ServiceNow solutions.

Industries and Background

The firm serves a range of sectors:

• Business and corporate
• Finance and fintech
• Healthcare
• Government
• Education
• Energy

Avion reports more than 19 years of operation, upwards of 1,900 delivered projects, over 500 clients and more than 40 technology experts, among them certified Microsoft consultants. Published case studies include Omni Warehouse, a warehouse and manufacturing implementation, and InfraFlow, a process automation effort, both on Business Central.

Staff have taken part in DynamicsCon 2025 and the ServiceNow World Forum in Chicago, and the company notes recognition from a commission of business leaders. For CRM buyers, its main advantage is combining Salesforce expertise with ERP integration and post-launch support.

Calsoft Systems is a Microsoft business applications partner. Its main work is Dynamics 365 projects that cover both customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning. Clients range from local mid-sized firms to large multinational groups. That makes Calsoft a fit for buyers who want their CRM project closely tied to finance, supply chain and operations, not run as a separate system. The firm has been in business since 1994 and its website reports more than 1,500 completed projects.

CRM Services and Products

On the CRM side, Calsoft deploys Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Customer Service, both successors to the older Dynamics CRM Online. Sales teams get dashboards for tracking leads, customer relationships and pipeline. Service teams get one place to see the customer information they need. Smaller organizations can also use the customer relationship features built into Business Central. Calsoft also extends these tools through the wider Microsoft stack:

• Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Service deployments
• Connections with Microsoft 365, Teams, Azure and Power Platform
• Microsoft Copilot features that add AI assistance to everyday business systems
• Custom add-ons, integrations and reporting
• Moves from legacy platforms such as Dynamics GP and NAV to the cloud, offered as D365 CloudShift migration packages

How They Work With Clients

Calsoft rolls out projects in phases, so clients can start with a small set of features and add more as they grow. For migrations, the team first reviews the existing systems. It then plans the move and consolidates data while keeping disruption to day-to-day operations low. After go-live, clients can get continued consulting and support.

The company says automation from its projects can cut manual work by as much as 75 percent. It also offers strategy and operations assessments for firms that want advice before choosing a platform.

Industries and Specialties

Calsoft adjusts its configurations to specific industries. These include metal and steel, logistics, automotive parts, food and beverage, telecommunications and media, process and discrete manufacturing, wholesale distribution, oil and energy, retail, and travel and tourism. Logistics is a particular strength. The firm is a CargoWise partner that handles global rollouts and integrations for freight forwarders. It also sells its own add-ons, including warehouse management tools, a shop-floor mobile app and Business Central extensions.

Background and Credentials

Calsoft says it holds Microsoft's Gold ERP competency and has won multiple awards, including a 2023 MSUS Partner of the Year award. It also lists itself as a CargoWise Platinum Partner and a certified B Corporation, and reports that 95 percent of its clients would recommend it. Bilingual local support is a feature of its global presence.

US offices include Los Angeles, New York, Dallas and a Chicago-area office in Schaumburg, and international offices include Japan, China, the UK and Mexico. Buyers in the northwest Chicago suburbs can work with a local team that also has the reach for multi-country projects.

Crestwood Associates is a technology advisory and implementation firm. It works with mid-sized organizations that want to run sales, customer management, finance and operations on one connected cloud platform. Its main work is business management software. For CRM buyers, its value is the customer relationship features built into Acumatica Cloud ERP. Crestwood implements these alongside Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Companies get a single system in which customer records, opportunities and order history connect directly to accounting and inventory.

What the firm delivers

Crestwood sells and implements software, and it also builds its own add-ons. It publishes extensions for both Acumatica and Business Central and works with a group of preferred independent software vendors. Its services cover the full project, from early planning through long-term care:

• Readiness assessments that clarify requirements, review workflows and define scope before a platform is chosen
• Implementation, including configuration, integrations, data migration and validation, and user training
• Custom functionality, automated workflows and extended business processes
• Moves from older systems such as Dynamics GP, Dynamics SL, Dynamics NAV and QuickBooks
• Cloud hosting, plus security and identity services built on Microsoft tools such as Entra ID, Purview and Azure backup
• Ongoing help desk support, reporting improvements and advice on governance

How it works with clients

The firm puts planning ahead of software selection. In its view, many projects go wrong because of rushed choices rather than the software itself. Common causes it names include choosing a platform before requirements are understood, defining reporting late, and underestimating the work of cleaning up data. Crestwood first studies how a company runs today.

It then advises on which processes to keep, which to simplify and where new software can reduce manual work. When comparing platforms, it explains the trade-offs between flexibility and standardization. It also sets out what each option will require from the client's own staff. After go-live, it continues to refine workflows and reporting as the business changes.

It also takes over clients whose previous partner is no longer a good fit.

Industries served

Crestwood has dedicated practices for manufacturing, including agriculture, chemical, paint and coating producers, and metal fabricators. It also serves distributors, retail and commerce businesses, construction firms such as electrical contractors, professional services organizations and general businesses. It markets the Acumatica general business edition to service-based companies that need both financial and CRM tools.

Background and credentials

The company is run by partners Tim Thompson and Brian McGuckin. It spent about fifteen years in Mount Prospect, Illinois, before moving to the Schaumburg Corporate Center. In its own published descriptions, Crestwood calls itself a Gold Certified Acumatica partner and a Microsoft Solutions Partner. It also reports more than two decades in business and thousands of completed implementations.

Accounting Today included it on its VAR 100 list, and in 2022 it made Bob Scott's Top 100 VARs list for the tenth year in a row. Buyers whose main need is a standalone CRM may find its focus more ERP-led than that of specialist CRM consultancies.

For companies that want customer management tied closely to financials and operations, its mix of advisory work, implementation, its own add-ons and hosting is a clear strength.