The way enrichment fits into a workflow has changed. For most of the last decade, "connect your enrichment tool to your stack" meant one thing: build a Zap, set up a Make scenario, or write a webhook. You'd chain apps together, pass data between them, and your enrichment ran as one node in a larger automation.
This shift is usually framed as a rivalry, which misreads what's actually happening. AI-native tools like MCP and Clay's Sculptor get framed either as iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) replacements or dismissed as toys. Both miss the point. The same enrichment data is now flowing through two structurally different distribution channels, and which one matters more depends on who your customer is and where they look for tools.
That model still works, and millions of workflows run this way.
But a second model has emerged, and it's structurally different. When you give Claude or Cursor an MCP server, you're handing it a tool to call rather than configuring a pipeline to follow.
Two eras with the same goal, reached through very different paths to distribution.
Era 1: Workflow automation and built-in distribution
Zapier, Make, n8n, Workato, Pipedream, Activepieces, Node-RED. These platforms share a common model: triggers and actions. Something happens, something else follows. Enrichment fits in as an action: "when a lead is created, enrich their profile."
The workflow model also has an advantage that's easy to overlook: marketplaces are distribution channels. A listing in the Workato adapter library, a published app on Pipedream, a package on the n8n node registry. These go beyond technical endpoints. They're placements in ecosystems where your next customer is already browsing.
Each listing also brings backlinks, a category page, and a slot in the platform's internal search, so it accumulates credibility before a single user has touched the integration.
This is why iPaaS integrations punch above their weight early on. The marketplace does the distribution work. You show up where buyers are already looking, without needing to earn their attention from scratch.
Enrich Layer has live integrations across the major iPaaS platforms: