We gave into the hype. We couldn't resist. We wanted to see what Amazon Echo can do ... but not for us, for our customers.

As part of the labs new Quick Hitter testing approach we have placed Alexa in a scheme designed for customers with visual impairments. Take a look at our approach:

This test isn't about solving a problem, it's about finding a solution to problems you didn't know you had.

An example of such a problem has already revealed itself; when I asked one customer why he doesn't like using the chatbot function on his phone he rightly pointed out that first he needs to find the button to press to activate it. Alexa doesn't require you to hit anything - you just need to start your sentence with the word 'Alexa'.

A big thank you to Nikki Harrington and her manager Catherine Ashley for allowing us to test it in the scheme.

Check back in at the end of February to see how we've got on.