For Aaron Wentzell, every technical migration is a story in the making.
As Vice President of Technology and Innovation at Bits In Glass (BIG) – a global boutique consultancy specializing in integration, data, and AI – Aaron helps enterprise leaders navigate the pivotal decisions they face when moving between integration platforms. While they often focus on the bottom line, Aaron advises them to look at the broader narrative.
“A platform migration is an inflection moment for the IT organization and the enterprise to talk about what the next five years look like,” Aaron said. “What didn’t work well the last five years, and what opportunities were missed? It’s not just about saving money, but also about having adaptability moving forward and making you more resilient.”
One trend shaping the current migration story is businesses abandoning expensive legacy tools, such as MuleSoft, in favor of agile, modern platforms like Boomi. With nearly three decades of experience in the integration space, Aaron has witnessed firsthand the waves of change. He views Boomi as a “major player” in the current evolution toward hyperautomation, offering a better cost-to-value ratio, faster time-to-market, and a simplified development process.
We spoke with Aaron to understand his role as a technologist, guiding clients to maximize integration investments and deliver tangible business results, and why migrating to Boomi is the right “next chapter” for many organizations frustrated by their outdated integration platforms. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Let’s start with some background on BIG.
Aaron Wentzell: Our founders came from telecommunications in the early 2000s, and the name Bits In Glass is a reference to fiber optics. Technology has changed and expanded, but we still have the fun acronym. We’re a boutique that takes a very high-touch approach to helping enterprise clients scale globally. We’re a technology shop that specializes in integration, data, and AI to drive value and transformation for our clients. We apply a long-term viewpoint. We lead our clients through technology changes that will support their business vision over the next five to 10 years. As we’ve grown, we’ve become very selective about working with best-of-breed platforms to do that. For instance, we joined the MuleSoft ecosystem back when they were a startup. Then we began working with Boomi and became a partner three years ago.
How do you advise businesses on choosing the right technology for their needs?
Aaron Wentzell: It’s very similar to an attorney. The attorney doesn’t make the decision for you, but informs you of everything you need to think about as you work through it. I work with technologists who are making a big decision when putting their name behind endorsing one platform over another. I find that people appreciate it when we take out the flashy sales copy and focus on pragmatic capabilities. What do you really need as opposed to all the bells and whistles? It’s about, “Let’s make sure that you’re buying the right tool for what you’re trying to do.”
Can you share a specific example of that approach in action?
Aaron Wentzell: I tell clients that I need to take them on this journey so that they learn things about their business as they make this decision. I worked with one organization that was choosing an integration platform, and I initially thought there was no way they wouldn’t pick MuleSoft. But then five weeks later, they went with Boomi because they leveled the playing field, got rid of all the flashy sales stuff, and really learned about what they needed as they talked about where they are going in the next few years. The clear winner came through for them when they really started to look at what they needed to meet the business initiatives.
Turning to platforms, what are the challenges you’re seeing around MuleSoft?
Aaron Wentzell: First and foremost is cost. It’s not so much that it costs too much upfront as the fact that it increases every year. As you add more workloads, the cost increases. So, cost predictability is one major concern. Another thing I’m seeing is ongoing maintenance costs. People don’t understand that it doesn’t run automatically. It needs care and feeding. We sell a managed service for MuleSoft, but we don’t sell it for Boomi because the evergreen model is super effective. There’s probably a bit less overhead around Boomi compared to MuleSoft, too. MuleSoft is a more traditional development platform. In Boomi, you gain access to other capabilities that you can leverage. So there’s a bit of future-proofing. Last, but not least, getting people up to speed on Boomi is less time-consuming than on MuleSoft. The time-to-market for development is shorter with Boomi.
And when clients ask you about Boomi, what is your response?
Aaron Wentzell: The thing I love most is the developer experience. People catch on to it really fast. A technology team lead can give someone a task in Boomi, and they can figure it out pretty quickly. It’s not like that in MuleSoft or other products. Boomi has also done a really good job with their AI innovations. There’s an interesting shift in Boomi compared to other platforms. I no longer consider Boomi just an integration platform. Boomi is an automation platform that has its roots in integration. The integration piece is solid, but the capabilities that I have in Boomi allow me to solve more complex business problems. There’s master data management, which is a primary data hub. There’s the AI piece. Another thing I tell prospects is that MuleSoft has about 10% of Salesforce’s attention. But Boomi spends 100% of its attention making sure clients are successful with all aspects of the platform. That’s why I see many businesses turning to Boomi.
Do technology leaders view integration as increasingly essential?
Aaron Wentzell: Integration isn’t a new problem. It’s long been the Holy Grail. There was a book written years ago called “Enterprise Integration Patterns,” and we all own a copy because it gave us a common vernacular when we talk about integration. But I’ve been in this industry long enough to have seen three or four waves of change. Every few years, a more cost-effective and easier way to do things comes along. I’d say that 30% of our business now involves legacy technology migrations to platforms like Boomi. With the advent of AI, technology leaders are facing organizational pressure to make the business more productive and reduce the total cost of delivering solutions. A platform like Boomi provides faster speed-to-market, lower costs and overhead, as well as an evergreen upgrade model that ensures your AI agents and integrations remain stable. The additional challenge is that budgets didn’t go up just because AI was invented. Leaders are looking for ways to do more with the spend that they have.
Why is an experienced partner crucial in a migration project?
Aaron Wentzell: A good partner will know where the skeletons are. They can bridge any gaps that exist, so you don’t lose momentum. Migrating from one middleware to another is a big undertaking. That journey has a lot of components. There are stumbles and falls. You can use AI to accelerate it, but I’ve never seen an AI tool that’ll do it 100% without human intervention. AI tooling can help convert about 50% of legacy tech to Boomi. But the lion’s share of the work is the rest of it. The reality is that different tools use different architectural patterns. Also, if you’re making decisions about what’s not working now, you don’t want to replicate the same setup in Boomi. If you’re doing it wrong somewhere else, you’ll do it wrong in Boomi.
Up Close With Bits In Glass
Headquarters: Based in Edmonton, Alberta, the company has offices worldwide, including in Toronto, Calgary, Denver, Dallas, London, and India (Hyderabad, Pune, Mohali)
Founded: 2002
Employees: 350
Services: Bits In Glass empowers the world’s most forward-thinking companies to navigate a rapidly changing automation landscape. As a trusted global boutique consulting firm, BIG combines a client-focused approach with the ability to scale and deliver tailored, data-driven intelligent automation solutions. Recognized as a Great Place to Work®, BIG helps organizations build digital agility and achieve lasting success.