Automating Business Processes with Python: Real Examples That Save Hours

Automation That Actually Saves Time

Most "automation" articles talk about theory. This one covers real Python scripts I have built for clients — each saving 5-20 hours per week. These are patterns from my business automation services that you can adapt for your own needs.

1. CRM Data Synchronization

A common problem: your sales team updates the CRM, but your Django app has its own customer database. Keeping them in sync manually is a nightmare.

import requests
from celery import shared_task
from django.conf import settings
from customers.models import Customer

@shared_task
def sync_crm_contacts():
    headers = {'Authorization': f'Bearer {settings.CRM_API_KEY}'}
    response = requests.get(
        f'{settings.CRM_URL}/api/contacts',
        headers=headers,
        params={'updated_since': get_last_sync_time()}
    )
    contacts = response.json()['data']

    created, updated = 0, 0
    for contact in contacts:
        customer, was_created = Customer.objects.update_or_create(
            crm_id=contact['id'],
            defaults={
                'name': contact['name'],
                'email': contact['email'],
                'phone': contact.get('phone', ''),
                'company': contact.get('company', ''),
                'deal_value': contact.get('deal_value', 0),
            }
        )
        if was_created:
            created += 1
        else:
            updated += 1

    logger.info("CRM sync: %d created, %d updated", created, updated)
    return {'created': created, 'updated': updated}

2. Google Shopping Feed Generation

E-commerce clients need product feeds for Google Shopping. Generating these manually is tedious — automate it:

from django.http import HttpResponse
from products.models import Product

def generate_google_feed(request):
    products = Product.objects.filter(
        is_active=True, stock__gt=0
    ).select_related('category')

    items = []
    for p in products:
        items.append(f'  <item>'
            f'<g:id>{p.sku}</g:id>'
            f'<g:title>{p.name}</g:title>'
            f'<g:description>{p.description[:5000]}</g:description>'
            f'<g:link>https://shop.example.com/products/{p.slug}/</g:link>'
            f'<g:price>{p.price} EUR</g:price>'
            f'<g:availability>in_stock</g:availability>'
            f'<g:brand>{p.brand}</g:brand>'
            f'</item>')

    xml = ('<?xml version="1.0"?>'
        '<rss version="2.0" xmlns:g="http://base.google.com/ns/1.0">'
        '<channel><title>Products</title>'
        + ''.join(items) +
        '</channel></rss>')

    return HttpResponse(xml, content_type='application/xml')

3. Telegram Notification Automation

Real-time notifications for business events — new orders, low stock, system errors:

import json
from urllib.request import urlopen, Request
from django.conf import settings

def send_telegram(message, chat_id=None):
    url = f'https://api.telegram.org/bot{settings.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}/sendMessage'
    data = json.dumps({
        'chat_id': chat_id or settings.TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID,
        'text': message,
        'parse_mode': 'HTML',
    }).encode()
    req = Request(url, data=data, headers={'Content-Type': 'application/json'})
    urlopen(req, timeout=5)

# Usage in Django signals
from django.db.models.signals import post_save
from django.dispatch import receiver

@receiver(post_save, sender=Order)
def notify_new_order(sender, instance, created, **kwargs):
    if created:
        send_telegram(
            f"New order #{instance.id}\n"
            f"Customer: {instance.customer.name}\n"
            f"Total: EUR {instance.total}\n"
            f"Items: {instance.items.count()}"
        )

4. Celery Task Patterns for Scheduled Jobs

from celery.schedules import crontab

app.conf.beat_schedule = {
    'sync-crm-hourly': {
        'task': 'tasks.crm_sync.sync_crm_contacts',
        'schedule': crontab(minute=0),  # Every hour
    },
    'generate-daily-report': {
        'task': 'tasks.reports.daily_summary',
        'schedule': crontab(hour=8, minute=0),  # 8am daily
    },
    'check-low-stock': {
        'task': 'tasks.inventory.check_stock_levels',
        'schedule': crontab(minute='*/30'),  # Every 30 minutes
    },
    'cleanup-old-sessions': {
        'task': 'tasks.maintenance.cleanup_sessions',
        'schedule': crontab(hour=3, minute=0),  # 3am daily
    },
}

5. Automated Report Generation

@shared_task
def daily_summary():
    today = timezone.now().date()
    orders = Order.objects.filter(created_at__date=today)
    revenue = orders.aggregate(total=Sum('total'))['total'] or 0
    new_customers = Customer.objects.filter(created_at__date=today).count()

    message = (
        f"Daily Summary for {today}\n\n"
        f"Orders: {orders.count()}\n"
        f"Revenue: EUR {revenue:.2f}\n"
        f"New customers: {new_customers}\n"
    )
    send_telegram(message)

Monitoring Automated Processes

Automation without monitoring is a time bomb. Set up alerts for failures:

@shared_task(bind=True, max_retries=3)
def reliable_task(self, task_name):
    try:
        result = run_task(task_name)
        TaskLog.objects.create(name=task_name, status='success', result=result)
    except Exception as exc:
        TaskLog.objects.create(name=task_name, status='failed', error=str(exc))
        send_telegram(f"Task {task_name} failed: {exc}")
        raise self.retry(exc=exc, countdown=60)

These patterns form the backbone of the automation systems I build. Each one replaces hours of manual work with a few lines of Python running on a schedule. See real examples in my CRM integration project and real estate platform with automated import. Ready to automate your business processes? Let's talk.