When the governor of the bank of England, Mervyn King, recently addressed the Trade Union Congress, it was only the second time in history that a governor had addressed the Union. Mr King warned that the government had to press ahead with its spending cuts to cut the country’s record peacetime deficit or the UK could be plunged back into recession.

A series of bumper profits announced by UK banks has once again brought their lending polices to businesses into the spotlight. News that six UK banks are to form a taskforce to help increase lending to businesses will be greeted with little enthusiasm by business owners up and down the land.

If you're not moving forward in business, then you're going backwards. Admittedly, this is a cliché but like all clichés, there is truth in it. Business has evolved considerably in the last decade, with new technology playing a large role in this change. Technology has enabled firms to fully embrace flexible and remote working, has opened up doors to new markets due to the ease of communication and allowed firms to market for free through social networking sites.

After all of the soundbites, shaking hands, promises and of course, the first ever televised debate the public voted that none of the major parties deserved an overall majority. We then had the hard bargaining and slight hysteria when the parties didn't agree in a day - despite the fact that the average time it takes to form a European coalition government is 40 days.

There is no doubt about it: the way businesses operate is evolving rapidly. If you had of mentioned ‘twitter' or ‘facebook' ten years ago you would have been given strange looks and a wide berth. Buy many companies now view these mediums as vital to getting their message out to consumers quickly, and, crucially, for free.