Virtual Incentives introduced a rewards and incentives API designed to connect companies' applications, loyalty platforms and procurement systems directly to its reward fulfillment platform. The announcement carries a May 4, 2016 release dateline and was published on the company's website on May 10.

The company said the API automated the steps between a business ordering an incentive and a recipient receiving it. It described real-time delivery through the recipient's chosen consumer platform, with fewer manual interventions by the organization running the program.

The release also included reporting, security and personalization functions. Businesses could tailor communications at the recipient level while using the same integration for promotions of different sizes. Virtual Incentives positioned those capabilities as part of its existing platform, which supported program development as well as reward delivery.

Chief executive Jonathan Price said feedback from customers using the earlier integration informed the release. AutoHook's client-services manager, Logan Dybdahl, also described the ordering API as supporting the company's incentive-based business, although the announcement did not quantify that customer's growth.

At the time of the announcement, Virtual Incentives listed Visa rewards, Visa virtual accounts, virtual Mastercard accounts and electronic gift cards from more than 600 merchants among its offerings. Those were fulfillment options available through the provider's rewards business; the announcement did not identify Virtual Incentives as the issuing bank for the payment cards.