A Generation Z Perspective on The World of Technology

Generation Z employees are entering the workforce at a fast pace – bringing with them new skills, expectations, and mindsets for businesses to embrace. Known as Zoomers, these employees were born after 1995, are digital natives, and have grown up with smartphones and social media as a permanent fixture in their lives. I should know – I’m one of them.

After nine months of working for SAP as an intern as part of my university placement, it’s interesting to reflect on how my own understanding of technology, particularly within B2B, has expanded. While I’ve brought many fresh perspectives to my team, I’ve certainly learned a great deal about a world you’re not taught about at school, as they say not all classrooms have four walls.

Cloud-Powered Technology

A positive that I have discovered about coming into an industry with no prior knowledge and an eagerness to learn, is that you have a fresh, non-biased perspective. Technology is not exactly an alien concept for us Gen Zs, but within the B2B technology world, the complexities are far more advanced – something I feel my Millennial and Boomer peers have an upper hand on in terms of experience and knowledge.

Take cloud software for example - referring to a great number of applications that all have different functions and purposes, but all have the same end goal: to provide improvements, efficiencies and visibility within your business.  It enables services, such as data storage, security, networking, software applications and business intelligence, to be accessed from anywhere at any time, unlike on-premise technology. I hadn’t really considered that the apps and tools I regularly use are hosted in the cloud and what makes that possible behind the scenes.

It’s clear that SAP is investing heavily in cloud technology. In 2020, SAP reported that its cloud revenue was up 17%. And earlier this year, SAP CEO, Christian Klein, announced a new initiative – RISE with SAP, which provides business transformation solutions and services all in one place – powered by the cloud. Within SAP Concur solutions where I am working, we see many of our customers looking to move their manual travel, expense and invoice processes to the cloud because of the flexibility and efficiency it provides. This has been further accelerated by the global pandemic and the sudden increase in remote working.

A Circular Economy and Sustainability

Another interesting facet of the tech world that's really important to me and my peers is the concept of a circular economy, and how businesses approach sustainability. The circular economy is an economy that is restorative and regenerative by design, which goes hand in hand with sustainability. Technology is embedded into everything we do, and I bet you didn’t know that 77% of the world’s trade touches an SAP system…even buying your morning coffee. SAP plays a role in providing technology that aids this transition of being linear to circular by cutting waste to a near zero.

This concept has really captured my attention during my placement,  the idea of everything having value and nothing being wasted is so imperative right now. Gen Zs are the generation of tomorrow, so if a deeper level of understanding and thinking can be established on this topic in schools, a positive mindset shift in sustainable behaviours could occur, having lasting effects.

An organisation that has a sustainability mindset and systemic appreciation for the environment will not only support students applying for graduate roles but when they rise to positions of power, they will become active ambassadors for circular economy initiatives to help the world run better.

The inherent digital nature of cloud software and technology supports sustainability, which is one of the reasons SAP gets involved in numerous initiatives to join forces with organisations and ideate. Take for instance45% of CO2 in the world comes from the production of goods and services. So not only do we need to tackle waste and climate change, but as businesses, we can make a big impact by lowering emissions in business production. The circularity gap report 2021 mentions that “to keep our world liveable and thriving, we need to double global circularity from 8.6% to 17%”. To find out more about how SAP keep their purpose and promise to a circular economy click here.

Connecting Companies to Classrooms

So, what can schools do for the next generations? Initiatives like promoting sustainability and a circular economy would have an invaluable impact if taught in schools alongside wider exposure to the business side of the technology industry.  A greater understanding of these topics from a young age can lead to a brighter and greener future, not only would it make them more employable because they can add real value to the business, but it could also lead to the exponential growth of positive technology created to tackle such issues.

Businesses that embrace a greater collaboration between themselves and Gen Zs to achieve these collective goals could lead to new and innovative solutions. Thinking green can help design a future for us all and I believe education is a fundamental part of that.

My perspective of technology has changed massively in the past year and I have come to learn that being proactive, curious and open-minded to the world of technology can lead to many opportunities. For more useful insights on different topics, SAP insights are the source for the latest thinking on technology and innovation for business executives.