Katusha: The AI Assistant That Transformed Email Management at MMC Innovation

When a technical consulting firm like MMC Innovation s.r.l. receives dozens of emails every day from clients, suppliers, public authorities, and partners, the biggest risk isn't losing a message — it's wasting precious time figuring out what to do with it.

Before automation, every incoming email required:

• careful reading
• manual CRM lookup
• creating folders on Register
• entering data into the database
• and assigning it to the right consultant

This meant hours of administrative work every week, with a constant risk of human error.

Today, it's all automated.

I designed and implemented for MMC Innovation an intelligent system powered by n8n (running on a hardened VPS accessible only via Tailscale) and Gemma 4, a large language model running locally on their Mini PC with 128 GB of shared RAM/VRAM. The result is Katusha, the studio's internal operational AI assistant.

How It Works

1. An email arrives in the company inbox
2. n8n intercepts it automatically
3. Katusha reads the subject, sender, and full content
4. Using a set of specialized tools, the AI decides in seconds what to do:
   • Is it spam or irrelevant? → Automatically moved to the "SPAM da controllare" folder
   • Is it a general communication from an existing client? → Archived in the client's dedicated folder
   • Does it involve a new project request? → Automatically creates the client (if new), the project, the contact person, generates the folders on Register, and moves the email to the right place
   • Does the project need to be assigned to a consultant? → It creates the assignment in the database and notifies the Lead or Support team
5. The team receives a clean, contextual notification by email — only when truly needed

Everything happens without anyone having to manually touch the inbox.

Technical Architecture

• Orchestration: Self-hosted n8n with dozens of interconnected workflows (main flow + dedicated tools + sub-workflows)
• Intelligence: Gemma 4 running locally via Ollama — zero API costs, zero risk of sensitive data leaving the company, and extremely fast responses
• Database: PostgreSQL to manage clients, projects, contacts, and staff assignments
• Email Server: Register.it with dynamic folder creation
• Security: VPS accessible exclusively via Tailscale + additional hardening measures. No sensitive data is ever exposed

The system is highly modular: each "Tool" is a separate workflow (create client, create project, move email, assign person, delete entity, etc.), and Katusha decides which one to call through tool-calling. This makes the entire flow extremely robust and easy to extend.

Real-World Results

• Time saved: Hours of administrative work reduced to minutes
• Zero email loss: Every message ends up in the correct folder and in the database
• Automatic assignments: Consultants are notified only when necessary
• Full privacy and control: The AI runs entirely on the company's own hardware
• Scalability: The same Mini PC already hosts multiple other AI models and automations without issues

In practice, Katusha has turned one of the most tedious and repetitive tasks in a professional services firm into a smooth, traceable, and nearly invisible process for the team.

Why It Worked So Well

I didn't just build "a bot that replies to emails." I created a complete operating system for the inbox that speaks the same language as the studio: client and project codes, assignments, Register folders, and internal database logic.

Most importantly, it was designed together with the client, with obsessive attention to MMC Innovation's real workflows.

If you run a technical consulting firm, professional services company, or any organization tired of spending half the day "managing the inbox," this is the kind of automation that genuinely changes how you work.