As the leading supplier of energy solutions for data centres across Europe, AVK takes seriously our responsibilities in propelling forward the digital revolution.
This extends to the use of digital technologies in operations, how digital is changing partner and customer engagements and, equally importantly, how accelerating digital revolution advances affect and impact our people.
AVK is an organisation that operates an open and inclusive working environment. As such we value opinions through encouraging discussion on every aspect of digital disruption.
In this second of a series of articles based on interviews with four young staffers who joined AVK in the last 12 months, we address questions about how Gen Z wants to use and engage with digital technology, both in the workplace and in their daily lives.
We believe it is important to address the concerns of Gen Z about how the implementation of AI might impact their roles. This is because those entering the workforce today will shape the industry over the coming decades and AVK believes that such questions are particularly apposite for digital infrastructure and power businesses.
It is clear that the ongoing and accelerating digital revolution presents challenges to employers like us to clearly communicate with our people how we are evaluating and may integrate emerging applied AI technologies across our different business functions.
Digitally native – not digitally naive
Gen Z is the generation who have grown up surrounded by smart phones, social media and always-on connectivity. The Gen Z individuals that firms such as AVK are seeking to attract into the power and data centre sector are the first ‘digitally native’ adults.
This makes their views as young professionals on topics including social media, workplace IT, the digital economy and the impact of AI particularly relevant to AVK as a business and to the broader data centre power market.
Views expressed reflected the fact that classifications such as ‘digital native’ can hide real complexities of how Gen Z perceives and uses technology and how they expect it may be used in the workplace.
A key take away is that it would be a mistake for data centre businesses to make assumptions that ‘native’ means an unquestioning acceptance on the ever greater use of all digital technology.
Says Filippos van Ryswyk, a Mechanical Engineering graduate who joined AVK from University: ‘Technology is part of everything in work and life. With friends I know from other sectors, be they in finance, engineering, or retail, we all talk about how quickly it is ever-changing.’
In answer to the question, How much is digital technology part of your life outside work?, Austin Warriner, an AVK Trainee Generator Engineer says: ‘The smartphone is such a part of life. I must have been 11-years-old the last time I lived without a phone in my pocket. So definitely it plays a big part.’
The digital technology revolution at work
As we covered in our first in this series of articles, Gen Z are focused, dedicated and enjoy positive working environments. This includes benefitting from greater use of digital technology.
As with all businesses, AVK relies on modern IT equipment, platforms, software and communications for operational efficiency.
And as a company at the forefront of powering the digital revolution through the provision of integrated power systems for data centres, AVK is exploring the use of AI and digital twins for a range of solutions.
The use of machine learning for optimising servicing regimes, predictive analytics, executing pre-break fixes, extending mean time to repairs and lifecycle planning for equipment such as generators, alternators, UPS, energy storage systems, and mechanical cooling could provide major customer benefits. This also extends to digital monitoring and management of fully integrated prime power and microgrid systems.
Digital twinning and AI are an emerging set of technologies which AVK design, engineering and field staff can expect to be increasingly exposed to.
This is where the human factor is important to ensure acceptance of changing work patterns along with training to make sure staff understand the benefits of technology.
As for the digital technologies our young interviewees are exposed to at work today there are positive attitudes on its impact on their jobs and how digital tech will change the world of work in the future.
Megan O’Connor, Lead CAD Engineer at AVK, says: ‘It will probably be a lot different. In five years, CAD programs, whether it’s with the help of AI or not, could develop massively. Tech expands constantly,’ she says. ‘I think it could help with different tasks and it is going to change roles.’
Austin also expressed confidence about the digital revolution and the opportunities it is creating.
When it comes to day-to-day use of digital tech in the workplace, Gen Z maintains a positive perspective on digital connectivity alongside an awareness of the always-on nature of being connected.
Austin says: ‘Technology is being implemented more and more. From the way we do our time sheets to constantly updating where we are and what we’re doing.’
He says that when he started with the company, ‘we did it on the computer, and it was more of an overview.’ The use of the phone now means this has changed because ‘you are in contact to show when you’re travelling, when you’re on the site, the jobs started or completed in a day.’
A 2025 study from the Netherland’s University of Twente, Faculty of Behavioural, Management & Social Sciences Department, Connected but Stressed, covered the benefits and challenges of digital connectivity. It found some Gen Z respondents surveyed reported that they prefer staying informed outside work hours, because this offers them a sense of control and preparedness. Staying informed after work prevents them from ‘surprises and helps them to mentally organise their responsibilities.’
Filippos points out that digital technology means that the discussions with clients and consultants are always interesting because ‘it is ok to ask questions based on data and opinions are valued.’
Digital economy – the impact on work and career prospects
When it comes to the digital economy, there is a wide range of feelings among Gen Z: hopes, fears, gratitude for the opportunities it continues to create, and misgivings about technology’s overuse.
Austin feels that the digital revolution is a ‘positive’ thing for people like him: ‘There’s a high demand for engineers, specifically generator engineers, so that offers me good job security.’ This job security would apply also to Conor, a fellow Trainee Service Engineer. But Conor is not so sure that the digital revolution’s impact has been positive when it comes to those still searching for careers. ‘You’d think with digital tech and social media, it would be easier to get into a job,’ he says. ‘But I don’t think it is. I think it’s harder, to be honest.’
The difficulties of getting your foot in the door of certain careers, difficulties enhanced by certain work- and time-saving aspects of the digital revolution and the fall in entry-level jobs, is a common challenge felt by Gen Z, as we partly covered in the previous article.
But Megan offers a more optimistic counterpoint: ‘Technology creates new businesses, new jobs. It creates new disciplines.’ One such source of new jobs could be a Sustainability Department, she suggests. Given Gen Z’s prioritisation of climate change, this should prove appealing to those just starting out in the world of work – and it might help to counteract any negative perception of the power and data centre industries by those for whom climate change is a major concern.
In contrast to the belief that ‘digital tech and social media’ have made it ‘harder’ to ‘get into a job,’ it is Megan’s opinion that, ‘in terms of getting women into more male-dominated areas,’ technology has ‘had a massively positive impact. One of the reasons I wanted to do what I do was to show that a woman can be in this industry and to bring my views to it. Because then it’s out there, and other women can go, “Oh, that actually sounds like really interesting. I’d quite like to do that.” And then it just spreads – that idea that you can actually do it.’
Still, all our interviewees are cautious not to be either too optimistic or too pessimistic when it comes to the changes technology has already wrought and to the impact AI is expected to make.
Interestingly, Millennials tend to view the implementation of technology in the workplace and the marketplace more optimistically than Gen Z, the digital natives. The differences are often a matter of a few percentage points, but Millennials on the whole are more likely to see the ‘potential positive outcomes’ of ‘new digital technology’ as outweighing the potential negative outcomes.
There are ‘positives and negatives’ to the presence of AI, says Megan. ‘I think it’s better to think that it’s going to help aspects of various jobs,’ rather than see it as something ‘that might eliminate thousands of different jobs. It’s there to help, to support. It’s there to help the people in that role instead of completely overtaking it.’
In an August 2024 report Digital Pioneers: Leading the Tech Revolution, Dye & Durham reported that both Zoomers and Millennials agreed that the purpose of implementing the latest technology ought to ‘take away the mundane tasks to free up [their] time for more important’ ones, and these are often the terms in which AI doomerism is countered.
‘The less time I spend on administrative tasks means I can put more time into other work which may improve my skills’, said the surveyed Millennials and Gen Z.
This is supported by a 2025 survey carried out by UKG, a provider of workforce management solutions. They found that 79% of U.S. employees, regardless of generation, believe ‘AI tools could free up time to focus on more important or rewarding parts of their jobs.’
According to the same survey, 70% of Gen Z employees claim to have taught themselves ‘most of the AI skills they use at work’, while 49% of Gen Z employees say ‘their bosses don’t understand the benefits of AI’.
This perceived lack of understanding might more fairly be called, in some cases, a more acute concern about AI’s dangers. That ‘people become over-reliant’ is one of the potential ‘negatives’ of the digital revolution in general, and the use of AI in particular, which Austin remarks on.
As mentioned above, and evidenced in the survey data, Gen Z has many questions about how far digital disruption could and should go. One interesting viewpoint expressed by our Gen Z cohort is the recognition and concerns expressed about the penetration of hand-held technology into younger and younger age groups.
When asked, Do you consider yourself a digital native?, Conor Tillett, an AVK Trainee Service Engineer, says: ‘I think it’s just part of day-to-day living now, especially for this generation. I don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing that my four-year-old cousin should be on a tablet for hours. But I think technology is a wonderful thing. It can be both good and bad.’
Says Warriner, ‘I’ve only just started my career, but I can see already the way children are being raised today is different to how I was brought up. As kids we would be interacting, being outdoors. Now kids all have their own games consoles, and they’re sat inside playing. I didn’t have that until I was at least in secondary school. Now the age at which kids are given phones is so much younger.’
Again, the concerns expressed are backed by reports and policy trends across the world ranging from the UK’s comms regulator Ofcom to the UK Government working on restrictions to smartphone access for under 16s, to the Australian Government’s online safety act restricted social media accounts to those over 16.
What happens outside of work can also affect attitudes in the workplace and AVK recognises that when implementing technology as a tool, it is important to acknowledge its effects on people.
Tech for work – tech for good
Self-improvement as a professional in the digital economy was highlighted as the central motivation of our interviewees, and the digital revolution can be seen positively as a potential tool for such development.
Millennials and Gen Z, ‘place much higher importance and value on working for an employer that is pro-tech adoption’ says the Dye and Durham report.
When asking respondents questions such as whether they would be “proud” to work for an organisation that embraces new digital technology, it found the majority of Gen Z [68%] and Millennials [71%] agree whereas at least a third of Gen X [33%] and Baby Boomers [34%] neither agreed nor disagreed.’
The AVK staffers interviewed recognise their uniqueness in history brought about by the enormous changes that digital technology has brought to their lived experience.
They, like AVK, understand that the digital revolution will bring rapid changes to the world of business and work and that providing sustainably powered infrastructure to deliver the benefits of the digital revolution is a force for good.
But among our interviewees and across every part of AVK, there is also recognition of the importance of managing and mitigating how AI affects the environment.
As well as the opportunities it offers and the tasks it facilitates, AI must be considered in the context of climate change and the pressing need for investment in many forms of sustainability.
For Gen Z, controlling ‘environmental impact is vital’, as Austin puts it, as we explore in our third and final article next week.