At a time when the whole country is being axed… sorry, asked to spend less and do more, it’s all too easy to forget about advances in technology and the vast array of things we could spend our budget on, if we had one.

First, why pester people with a plain old A4 CV, when you can send a virtual one? And not just any virtual one, oh no – one that looks like something out of a James Cameron film, with a mini hologramatic you walking around with CGI special effects whirling around.

Imagine how much more fun Monday morning would be if you had an inbox full of these to go through, rather than Word documents that occasionally try to wow you with a wacky font. Don’t then think about the practicalities of candidates being able to assemble a team full of IT-wizards working on every aspect of a CV, nor the fundamental need for a CV to convey information that’s both succinct and to the point. No, that would just spoil the fun.

Second, to quote the press release, “You have been ‘fired’ - ‘let go’ -‘terminated’ - ‘exited’. There is no nice way to put it. Right now you may be sitting in an office or even a coffee shop wondering how to react, what to do next?” It’s an important question and a depressing predicament, especially for those who measure their money in terms of beverages.

But wait, it continues: “For the price of a latte and less than a pint of beer you download the app from the Apple iTunes Apps Store to your iPhone and then click on it and it immediately gives you over 10,000 words of practical advice about the situation and your rights and entitlements.” The app in question is called ‘I’ve Been Fired!’, and is the latest from HG Apps Store . Perhaps the next time you have to announce a redundancy, you can soften the blow with “but don’t worry, there’s an app for that!”

And finally, a new piece of kit from BIG ideas inc is a mobile phone interface that “allows users to chat via video and text, upload and view presentations and join discussions, disseminate information to an entire workforce and empower information and innovation sharing". This sounds eminently sensible. Indeed it’s the type of thing that only three years ago we imagined we would all be using by now.

The sad thing is that businesses, most hit by forces they had no control over, now have no money to spend on such nice-to-haves. And it would be nice to have, wouldn’t it? To be able to invest in new technology that unifies the workforce, and keeps everyone instantly in touch? Sadly at the moment the public sector is more likely to return to chalk boards and typewriters, while those lucky enough to own an iPhone could be heading to the app store.