Programmable Web’s Most Clicked, Viewed, Talked about APIs of 2018

Sterling is proud to be included in Programmable Web’s list of Most Interesting APIs for business and productivity with our cloud-based background screening platform.

Next up in our series about the Most Interesting APIs added to ProgrammableWeb in 2018 is our list of Business and Productivity APIs. These APIs can be used to integrate applications with business software and other tools that make business processes more efficient. Products range from time keeping tools to messaging to email and notary services and beyond. Covered in this article are APIs in our Business, Collaboration, Messaging, Email, Project Management, Human Resources, SaaS, File Sharing, CRM, Documents, Notary, Calendar, Spreadsheets, Chat, Notifications, Electronic Signature, Design, and others.

Several big players contributed to the API Economy in the business sector this year including Google, Microsoft, Inuit, Twilio, GitHub, Apple, Vonage, Dropbox, Xillio, Messagebird, Sparkpost, and What’s App. And notable startup API releases in this sector are Moon for hiring, Reloadly for mobile re-up services, and Baker for cannabis industry CRM. Let us know if we missed any interesting Business APIs from this past year.

WhatsApp Messenger is an SMS replacement application owned by Facebook. The recently announced WhatsApp Business API provides a way for businesses to interact with and reach customers using end-to-end encryption. This enables messages and calls with security that allows only a business and the person it is communicating with to read or listen.

MailboxValidator is a tool used to cleanup bulk email lists, remove duplicates, and validate bulk email lists. The MailboxValidator Disposable Email Checker API determines if the requested email address is hosted at a disposable service. The MailboxValidator Free Email Checker API checks if the requested email address is hosted at a free service provider. Responses for both APIs can be JSON or XML.

Json2Email is a simple HTML e-mail generation API created for developers. This API helps remove the need for dealing with nested HTML tables and inline CSS. It turns JSON into a responsive HTML template.

SIMPSY Voice is a business call center platform. The SIMPSY Voice API offers a VoIP platorm with call tracking, call recording, virtual number support, and integrated CRM. Developers can use SIMPSY to provide customers with a virtual office number, to mask numbers for a P2P platform, and more.

Sterling provides onboarding tools and a cloud-based background screening platform. The Sterling On Demand REST API integrates background check functionalities with applications. The API is used to perform background checks on participants in online marketplaces, create trusted end users, and schedule and monitor screenings.

Workzone is an online project management platform. The Workzone API integrates project management features, aiming to ease dashboard workflow, to do lists, and file sharing. Developers can use JSON format to receive responses for users, work spaces, reports, and groups.

Extensis provides productivity applications for creative professionals including Extensis Portfolio, a digital asset management (DAM) platform. The Extensis Portfolio API provides a way for developers to create applications that need to communicate with Portfolio.

Cloudmersive provides scalable cloud APIs for developers. Among its offerings is the Cloudmersive Document and Data Conversion API, which enables developers to convert files and content between file formats. Developers can also screenshot a web URL to PNG format, or convert data between file formats, such as CSV to JSON, or XLSX (Excel) to CSV with one API call. The API supports over a hundred file formats, including PSD, TIFF, PNG and JPG.

Rev.io is a SaaS recurring revenue, billing, and customer management platform. The Rev.io SOAP API provides a way to request data from REV.io with methods for agents, allowances, attachments, audit, bill profiles, bills, charges and more. There is also a Rev.io REST API in the ProgrammableWeb directory.

Mopinion provides customer feedback analytics software for websites and mobile applications. The Mopinion Data API provides a way to build Mopinion feedback data imports or connect the Mopinion platform to applications.

HTPut allows users to post any kind of content to friendly addresses they create themselves. Content will be available on an URL similar to “htput.com/my-address”. The HTPut API allows users to create new addresses, update and retrieve content from those addresses, add subaddresses and append data to existing content.

Notarize is an online notary service that connects users with a Notary Public via a live video feed. Developers can integrate application with the Notarzie Partner API to automate the notarization process for a business and legally notarize documents. The Notarize Business API enables users to send and receive notary transactions between notary and signer. The API includes support for PDF file types supplied either as a URL or as a base64 encoded local file, as well as bookmarks that can be individual transactions for more than one signature. The Notarize Real Estate API enables users to manage online mortgage closing operations including creating transaction, generating eNotes, document uploads, retrieving completed closing documents.

MessageBird is a cloud communications provider. Back in August, the company launched the MessageBird Programmable Conversations API, which provides support for SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram and Line, with more platforms such as Slack, Amazon Alexa, and Twitter to be added in the near future.

DocuSend is a cloud based mailroom serives that enables users to send documents to the U.S. Post Office from their desktop. The DocuSend Print-to-Mail API allows developers to add a menu option or button to their application to “Send US Mail”. This circumvents the need to manually upload a file using DocuSend’s web interface.

Drift is a messaging and chatbot service focused on sales. The Drift API allows users to customize bots with the aim to improve business efforts on websites and applications. The API supports segment integration, conversation sidebar, drift meetings, chat icons/widgets, and widget configurations. There are also Drift SDKs available for JavaScript Web, Android mobile, and iOS mobile and web.

Google Apps Script is a JavaScript-based platform that is used for implementing add-ons for G Suite applications such as Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Sheets, Google Slides and more. The Google Apps Script API allows developers to automate tasks for spreadsheets, add buttons, and more, plus issue Apps Script API commands for other integrations.

Also from Google the enables The Google Search Indexing API publishers can use to notify Google when job posting pages on their sites have been updated. It provides a way to submit a limited number of URLs to crawl and index. Developers can get metadata about a web document and be notified if a URL has been updated or deleted and more.

timeBuzzer allows users to track their time, team, customers, projects, and cost centers. The timeBuzzer API lets users connect to the complete timeBuzzer Service, and get programmatic access to projects, customers, and all time entries. Use the API to create custom templates, projects, customers or tasks, create and edit time entries, and receive new time entries via webhooks. There is also an optional physical hardware piece (the buzzer, pictured below) that is used in conjunction with selecting tasks to track.

WhitePages Pro Phone Reputation API blocks and filters spam. It knows in real time when a number is behaving badly across the voice and SMS channels in real-time based on reputation level of 1 – 4. By using a RESTful GET API request, developers receive a reputation level and details including what spam, scams and fraud activities are associated with the phone number.

oneheap supports the organization and tracking of tasks, ideas, notes, and dates. The oneheap API allows developers to add oneheap platform functions to applications. Developers who integrate the API can set file permissions, manage tasks, manage appointments, comments, users, and more.

Docparser is a data extraction service. The Docparser API can extract data from documents, work orders, PDF invoices, purchase orders, sales orders, warranty agreements, standardized contracts, and more.

Skype Interviews API can be used to enable Skype Interviews as part of a company’s recruiting application. The API includes methods for creating, customizing, and scheduling interviews programmatically. API users are given the option to send participants email confirmation about their interview as well as request feedback from the interviewer over email after the interview.

SignRequest is an easy-to-implement electronic signature solution. The SignRequest API returns JSON data to send signature requests. Developers can receive events from SignRequest when a document has been sent, viewed, signed, downloaded, etc.

Cloudprinter allows users to create printed products from their own content or application including the Cloudprinter Cloudpublish API, which provides a way to manage orders by sending the ISBN or book reference from an application to the API without the need to submit the print files.

MakePrintable is a service for engineers, architects, and 3D makers to analzye, repair, and finalize 3D printing models. The MakePrintable API allows developers to integrate features for making 3D models printable into their applications, systems, and workflows. This API includes methods for analysis, repair, hollowing, polygon count reduction, transformation, and more.

Microsoft’s Bing Entity Search API provides contextual information about real-world entities such as people, places, things, and local businesses. The API identifies an entity based on a user’s searched term, and query for relevant entity information to integrate search data into existing content.

Vonage is a cloud communications platform that offers communication developer tools on the Nexmo API platform. The Nexmo Messages API enables applications to send and receive messages via SMS/MMS, Facebook Messenger, Viber and WhatsApp. The API supports native app features and multimedia messaging video and audio and geolocation messaging to engage customers. The Nexmo Dispatch API (beta) allows developers to add a fallback mechanism if a first message for a specific chat channel fails.

SheetDB allows developers to use Google Spreadsheet as a RESTful API. Users can transform a spreadsheet to JSON API to read, write or delete any data by simple POST, PUT and DELETE requests.

Procore provides construction project management software. The Procore Connect API allows developers to connect with company and project level resources of the Procore platform. API methods are available to manage users, projects, vendors, equipment, locations, dates, documents, bidding, photos, drawings, and much more.

TeloInterview provides an automated video interviewing and screening system for human resources platforms. The TeloInterview API is used to retrieve interviews, create interviews, invite applicants to interview, and to obtain specific applicant information.

Gitshare.io is a set of file management API tools with 38 end points that include everything from path creation to more complex functions, user management, and activity monitoring. Developers can use the Gitshare API to dd file permissions, folder access, indexed search, user authorization, and much more to files and folders from anywhere on the web.

Rebel is an email marketing solution provider known for its interactive emails. Rebel has launched the Rebel Lite API for developers to build emails with JSON (same process as Rebel Actionable API) without the need for interactive functionality. It provides a way to use JSON for rendering fully responsive HTML that works in every email client. Developers can build emails, choose a template, create and update a campaign and more. API methods are available to manage templates, campaigns, emails, container, columns, custom-HTML, image and more. A Rebel Webhooks API is also available.

Marvel provides tools for design and prototyping, with no coding required. The Marvel GraphQL API allows users to build applications and integrations on the Marvel design platform. It provides a way to extend, automate, and manage the functionality without the need to use Marvelapp.com. The API allows users to create prototypes, adddesigns, manage users and otherwise interact with Marvel programmatically.

ScraperAPI provides a way to build web scrapers without having to manage proxies and headless browsers. The Scraper API handles proxies, browsers, and CAPTCHAs and allows users to scrape any web page.

Spot Intelligence is a platform for extracting key data from documents. The Spot Intelligence API is used for automating document processing, easing the process of digitizing invoices or other business documents. This platform supports Word documents, PDFs, images, and XML files.

simPRO is a business management software provider focused on the trade service industries. The company recently launched a developer portal which includes instructions and documentation for the simPRO REST API. The simPRO API is a RESTful service that allows users to view, create or edit resources on any simPRO Enterprise Service system, including Mailing Systems, Accounting Systems, CRMs, eCommerce and more. A simPRO RPC API is also available.

PagerDuty provides digital operations, on-call and incident response services. The PagerDuty Events API detects system problems and produces tickets to fix issues. Developers can add phone, SMS, email, and mobile push notifications to monitoring tools, ticketing systems, and custom software with this API.

SignEasy provides a way to sign and get documents signed from smartphones, tablets and the web. The SignEasy API is a REST service that allows users to integrate esignature functions into an application or business workflow. This API enables developers to retrieve user details, delete a signed file, create a signature request and more.

By Joy Culbertson, Rhea Whitney and Cydney Johnson

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