Microsoft Teams APIs: Plenty of Options

The real power of any platform lies underneath the hood, and Microsoft Teams is no different.

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Microsoft Teams APIs
Collaboration

Published: June 15, 2020

Anwesha Roy

Technology Reporter

Teams is Microsoft’s flagship collaboration platform that has amassed millions of DAUs in a dramatically short time. Given the COVID-19, Microsoft decided to extend Teams Free’s capabilities, making the offering even more compelling. Microsoft supports over 250 integrations out of the box, not to mention its own Office suite.

But what about companies that depend on home-grown applications? Can Microsoft Teams work in tandem with these custom (often legacy) software without missing a beat?

To address this issue and to ensure widespread operational compatibility, Microsoft has exposed a number of key APIs for Teams. These are available via Microsoft Graph, which is a developer platform connecting various services and devices. Using Microsoft Teams APIs, you can automate your collaboration workflow to a great extent, improving efficiency. For example, you can automate new team creation (event-triggered), the selection and addition of team members, and calendar changes.

There are several options for using Microsoft Teams APIs. You can optimize the platform’s tabs, connectors, services, and activity feed. You could even add on a bot to get the job done faster. Microsoft Teams APIs enable messaging extensions, including the deployment of actionable messaging on the app.

We were intrigued by one particular API that’s currently in preview – an app for calling and online meetings. You can create bots to initiate calls and route them based on interactive voice response (IVR) flowcharts, dramatically reducing the chance of error. Microsoft is continually working on its API library, so you can expect many more such options in future roadmaps.

For now, Microsoft has 10+ options listed in its key resources in Microsoft Teams. There are several protected APIs as well (requiring additional validation, beyond permissions and consent) – these offer access to advanced functions like listing replies, getting hosted content, listing chat members, etc.

The May update to Microsoft Teams APIs introduced several useful additions. The calendar got a Places API, while the call records API now lets you fetch call/online meeting metadata with ease. This is just the tip of the iceberg – you can view the full list of both available and in-preview May 2020 updates to Microsoft Teams APIs here.

Microsoft has opened up an entire world of innovation for developers with Microsoft Teams APIs. You can leverage the Graph Explorer to take these APIs on a test drive before you zero in on the right option. The Graph Explorer is an interactive interface that lets you view API responses before implementation. Graph Explorer applies to all Office APIs, beside Teams, so you have a lot to play around with.

The benefits of using Microsoft Teams APIs are myriad. You can cut down on the need for human intervention for common tasks – for example, opening a new channel for communication when a customer places an order. It makes team and channel management easier, not to mention integrating with applications that run outside the Teams UX.

Given the breadth of options and continuous support from the Microsoft community, Teams APIs are key to unlocking the app’s full potential.

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