Eliminating $960K in licensing fees: enterprise HR platform across 20 countries
One of Africa's largest financial institutions. 45M+ customers, 20 African countries plus London, Paris, New York, Dubai. 25,000+ employees. ₦3.19T gross revenue. UBA ran HR operations across 20 African countries using seven disconnected systems. None of them talked to each other, and the licensing fees alone cost $80,000 per month.
I led the design of a 12-module platform that replaced all seven, achieved 85% adoption across 20,000+ employees, and moved the organization from Level 1 to Level 3 design maturity.
The cost of fragmentation
UBA ran its HR operations across 20 African countries using a patchwork of seven disconnected systems. Payroll in one tool, leave management in another, recruitment in a third. None of them talking to each other, costing $80,000 per month in licensing fees alone.
But the licensing cost was just the visible problem. Fragmentation created three deeper failures. There was no central source of truth. An employee's leave balance in one system didn't reflect in another. Promotion decisions in one tool didn't update the org chart elsewhere. Every country operated as a silo with its own workarounds, its own spreadsheets, its own processes. No one at headquarters had a complete picture of the workforce. And HR managers spent 30+ hours per week on manual reconciliation between systems.
I joined as the first design lead for this initiative. UBA's design maturity was at Level 1: no established design processes, no design system, no history of user research informing product decisions. Stakeholders expected to see solutions, not research decks. That was the key insight. In an organization where design has no track record, you can't lead with process. You have to lead with tangible proof.
Proving impact before explaining method
Stakeholders had zero background in user-centered design. Presenting research findings or process flows wouldn't work. I needed a different approach: build tangible prototypes during research, not after, and let people experience something concrete.
I conducted 23 stakeholder interviews spanning C-suite executives, HR managers, and regional leads. My team ran 47 employee contextual inquiries across Nigeria, Kenya, and UK offices. We facilitated 12 process mapping workshops documenting how HR actually worked day-to-day.
Three findings drove platform design.
Unified data, not better tools
HR managers needed unified data, not improved versions of disconnected tools. Individual systems worked fine in isolation. They just never connected. No one at headquarters had a complete picture of the workforce.
Mobile-first by evidence
67% of employees accessed HR systems primarily on mobile devices. This wasn't convenience. For many employees in African offices, mobile was their only consistent access point.
Regional flexibility required
Regional differences were standard operating procedure. Leave policies, benefits structures, workplace terminology all varied by country. Any rigid system would fail immediately across borders.
In a low-design-maturity environment, prototypes speak louder than research decks. Build proof alongside discovery, not after it.
12 modules replacing 7 systems
I designed an integrated platform that consolidated everything into a single ecosystem. Each module addressed a specific HR function while sharing a common design system, authentication layer, and data model.
The platform covered the complete employee lifecycle: Core HR and structure (profiles, org charts, departments), Talent pipeline (recruitment, skills assessment, career development), Employee management (leave, benefits, confirmation tracking), Performance and growth (promotions, sanctions/rewards, exit management), and an HR helpdesk for internal support.
When presenting the Core HR module prototype to the C-suite, one executive who'd been openly skeptical said the organizational chart visualization alone would save his team hours of manual work every week. He hadn't understood what 'design' could do until he saw it working with real employee data in a clickable prototype. That moment shifted the dynamic. Subsequent stakeholder reviews had better attendance, more engaged feedback, and faster decisions.
A single platform across 20 countries meant every component had to flex for regional HR practices, compliance requirements, and terminology without fragmenting the core experience. Configurable leave policies, multi-currency payroll, and locale-adapted labels replaced one-size-fits-all templates.
UBA had no design system before this project. I established the bank's first component library with reusable patterns across all 12 modules. Beyond consistency, the system was about velocity: once core components were built (form patterns, data tables, navigation, status indicators), new modules assembled faster with each iteration. The design system also let me delegate work to two junior designers with guardrails that maintained quality.
Three principles guided the design
Each principle was grounded in research findings, not best practice assumptions.
HR practices, compliance requirements, and terminology varied significantly across 20 countries. A rigid system would fail the moment it crossed a border. Configurable leave policies, multi-currency payroll, and locale-adapted labels let regional teams adapt without engineering support.
Cultural adaptability over universal defaultsEmployees across 20 countries had vastly different levels of digital literacy. Rather than build one interface, I designed role-based complexity: simplified flows with guided onboarding for first-time users, with advanced features revealed progressively as confidence grew.
Guided simplicity over feature density67% of employees primarily accessed systems via mobile. For many in African offices, mobile was the only reliable access point. That data point shaped every layout, interaction pattern, and information density choice, down to offline-capable workflows for low-bandwidth environments.
Mobile-first by evidence, not assumptionThe 'leading with proof' approach had a specific turning point during the C-suite prototype presentation.
One skeptical executive said the org chart alone would save hours weekly.
That moment shifted the project dynamic: subsequent reviews had better attendance, more engaged feedback, and faster decision-making.
Each prototype test became a proof point, not just for the solution, but for the idea that user-centered design could work at UBA.
Measuring impact
annual profit increase attributed to operational cost reduction and process automation
reduction in HR helpdesk tickets through improved self-service
faster onboarding for new employee setup
faster HR processes overall
Design maturity: Level 1 to Level 3. First design system, research practices, and user-centered decision-making embedded in the development workflow.
Cross-team adoption: IT and Operations teams began applying design thinking to their own initiatives.
Knowledge transfer: design system and component library became the foundation for subsequent digital initiatives at UBA.
“The HCM Connect transformation fundamentally changed how our employees interact with HR services. What used to take days now happens in minutes.”
“The design system approach meant we could scale consistently across all our African operations while respecting local needs. It's become the blueprint for all our digital initiatives.”
The system outlasted me, and that's the point
The biggest validation isn't a metric. It's that the platform, the design system, and the team kept shipping after I left. I designed the first modules, built the component library, mentored two junior designers, and established the research practices.
When I departed in 2021, the framework was robust enough that the remaining modules shipped without me in early 2022. You don't just deliver a product in a low-maturity environment. You build the capability to keep delivering.
Phase the module rollout more deliberately. We tackled all 12 modules within the project timeline. Starting with 3-4 core modules would've allowed faster learning cycles and earlier value delivery.
Start the design system as a product, not a byproduct. The component library emerged from the work rather than being planned upfront. Treating it as a deliberate deliverable from week one would've accelerated later modules and made the handoff smoother.
In enterprise contexts with low design maturity, designing for decision-makers is as important as designing for end-users. Leading with proof, not process, where you produce real prototypes alongside research rather than after it, is the fastest path to earning trust.