As technology rapidly changes, so do the needs and preferences of business customers who will be interfacing with technologically advanced systems and services. There is general consensus that today's youth represent the future workforce requiring business services, particularly university students considered to be valuable future high-earning customers, tech savvy and willing to adopt technology. Research shows that the digital expectations of youth surround seamless, mobile-friendly experiences that include the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. Anticipating the evolving needs, concerns, technology preferences and the factors influencing youth technology adoption can help businesses prioritize which technologies to include in their technology deployment roadmap. This study aimed to examine the perceptions of Jamaican university students on the emerging technologies that would shape the future of insurance and financial services over the next 5 to 10 years. Using a cross-sectional survey design, an online questionnaire was used to collect data from 211 participants from a Jamaican university through convenience sampling. The participants represented mostly undergraduate students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields of study. Two focus group sessions comprising a total of 12 participants were also conducted. Among other things, the quantitative findings revealed that approximately 42% of participants indicated having no knowledge or only being vaguely aware of emerging trends or technologies that could potentially impact the insurance and financial services industry, 42% had a basic understanding and 16% were well-informed or had extensive knowledge of these technologies. Despite the significant number of participants having little or no knowledge, more than 60% were confident in their ability to effectively use technology-driven insurance and financial services. This suggests significant perceived self-efficacy among study participants. Artificial intelligence and Robotic process automation were the top two technologies identified as having the greatest potential impact on the insurance and financial services industry in the future. The top three factors that positively influenced their adoption of technology-driven insurance and financial services were identified as enhanced user experience, convenience and accessibility, and enhanced security and privacy measures. The focus group sessions revealed that most participants were familiar with emerging technologies and their potential application in insurance and financial services, and were mostly aware of the privacy and security risks posed by emerging technologies, even while appreciating their benefits. These findings provide actionable insights for strengthening university-industry collaboration through facilitating industry-aligned curriculum development and student projects, while fostering financial literacy and student awareness of financial and business services.

Keywords: Perceptions, University Students, Future Customers, Emerging Trends, Technologies, Insurance and Financial Services.