The average person has more than 80 apps downloaded onto their smartphone, using nine of these apps daily. With the major expansion of this market over the past few years, it's easy to think that developing an app is the key to making your fortune online.
However, for many developers, it's the application programming interface (API) that can be one of the most lucrative products. APIs can facilitate business partner intervention, add new channels of revenue, and—best of all—help drive technological innovation. Learn more about how APIs are being used to create faster innovation channels and improve the user experience
How a REST API Work
Before APIs, app developers were constrained by rigid interfaces and security restrictions. These apps also required developers to essentially reinvent the wheel whenever an app's backend system, data model, or interface changed. But with an API, developers could allow apps to interface with one another seamlessly, without requiring extensive and time-consuming updates.
A Representational State Transfer, or REST, API is particularly useful in this context. This API uses HTTP requests for its common functions, including getting, putting, posting, and deleting data. Each URL this API visits is deemed a request, while the data received in return is a response. Unlike the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) technology, REST uses little bandwidth and won't compromise the strength of your internet connection.
Microbilt's Credit & Decisioning APIs
In the B2B market, identity check APIs are incredibly popular—and incredibly useful. Whether you want to run a quick background check on a prospective employee or track down someone by their license plate number, these decisioning and identity proofing APIs can come in handy. Just a few of the identity check APIs Microbilt offers include:
· Phone- and Address-Name Verification
These APIs ensure that a submitted address or home or mobile phone number matches the provided individual's name. With so many individuals going "dark" due to the decline of telephone white pages and the fact that most mobile numbers are unlisted, these services can be invaluable in ensuring that a provided phone number or address matches a name.
· Social Security Number (SSN) Validation
Confirming an individual's SSN as valid is vital for employers, government agencies, and many others. This API verifies whether a particular SSN is valid and to whom it belongs.
· Email Validation
This helpful service can verify the origin and status of an email. By flagging an email that presents suspicious factors, email validation service can help users avoid disruptive and potentially expensive data breaches.
· Watchlist Search
Sometimes, businesses and individuals may want to place a certain person on a watchlist to monitor their future actions. The Watchlist Search API helps download and append data from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and international watchlist records to match a specified person or business. Each of these innovative APIs can help empower businesses to take necessary steps, from checking Social Security numbers to flagging suspicious emails to ensuring that management gets a heads-up whenever an employee is charged with a crime.