Opening a business account with one of Uganda’s major banks was straightforward. But trying to set up online banking was another story altogether.

What should have been a smooth, 10-minute process took a month.

Yes – a full month.

The Journey (and Friction)

• Branch Visit & Paper Forms
  The process began with filling out paper application forms at my local branch. A bank representative assisted, and then a manager had to sign and stamp the documents.

• Back-Office Handoffs
  I assume the forms were scanned and sent to IT for final account setup.

• Initial Login Attempt
  I was required to log in and change my password. It didn’t work.

• Forgot Password’ Workaround
  I was advised to use the forgot password route. I did. Then entered the OTP. Still — login failed.❌ Error Message: “You cannot log in at this time. Please contact XYZ Bank for further information.”

• Support Maze
  Call Center Phone support didn’t help. So I visited a larger branch in the Central Business District, hoping for a better outcome.

• Escalation to IT
  The branch connected me to an IT person at another branch who wanted to “experience the issue first hand.” They were helpful but couldn’t resolve the problem immediately.

• Resolution After a Month
  After several visits and back-and-forth communication, the issue was finally fixed. But the experience left one big question:

👉 Does digitalization automatically equal simplification of processes?

The Bigger Issue: Digital ≠ Easy

Many organizations roll out “digital” services without rethinking the underlying service design. What ends up happening is:

• Old paper-based processes are simply digitized, not redesigned.

• Security controls, while necessary, become usability barriers.

• Customer experience becomes a maze of back-office dependencies.

This isn’t just bad UX, it’s a business risk. Customers with less patience than mine would have abandoned the process entirely.

Rethinking the Online Banking Onboarding Journey

A better process could look like this:

• Clear end-to-end onboarding flow, with digital verification and real-time status updates.

• Seamless IT-Business handoffs, ideally invisible to the customer.

• Human-centered security design, secure but usable.

• Multiple support channels that actually resolve issues without branch hopping.

• Feedback loop that identifies friction points proactively.

Digital transformation is not about moving paper forms online.
It’s about redesigning experiences for simplicity, trust, and speed.

The question isn’t whether your service is online. The real question is: is it usable, seamless, and human-centered?