What if you could borrow a firetruck from across the island, in minutes?

Fynder app showing a loan confirmation screen, next to an upcoming pick-up card for an SSOE2 laptop

Impact

Metrics measured

98% reduction in manhours, from 8.25 hours to 10 minutes

4.1/5 high user satisfaction

48.5 hours saved per officer

$1000/division in cost savings

Context

Across the government: Borrowing a single piece of equipment takes an average of 3 days, up to a week.

This wastage of manhours equals to lost efficiency and money, over time.

An 8-step flow: Commander Effendy notices a firetruck is down, messages a firefighter at Jurong fire station, gets redirected to the person-in-charge, who says there are no spare trucks. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for as many fire stations as possible, until a spare firetruck is found. Then submit a request on the internal platform, wait for approval, and drive the firetruck over.

"Today, it's very manual. First, I have to find the right person at the station. Then message them, to ask if the asset is available for loan. If they say no, then repeat."

Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF)
Officer, Paya Lebar Fire Station

Research: Key problems

1

Lack of visibility, of available resources across divisions

"Does Marina Bay fire station have a spare firetruck for us to loan?"

2

Cumberson internal tools, with low adoption rates

"We are still in the stone ages"

3

Manual loaning processes, often through informal comms

"I will Whatsapp them to ask"

A whiteboard titled Marina Bay Vehicle Status, with handwritten rows tracking each firetruck's in/out status and remarks. Status of firetrucks are manually written on a whiteboard within the fire station.

Prototyping quickly

I sat my engineers and PM down, on the first day. Within an hour, we had an E2E flow of our initial hypotheses to bring into testing. Includes assumptions whiteboard and a FigJam flow of the happy-path loan request journey.
Results — Fynder loan listing screen next to a purple gradient backdrop
1

Helping people easily obtain assets they need, with a centralised marketplace

Compressed Air Foam (CAF) Backpack listing, with a How many do you need? quantity selector showing up to 12 available

Find any assets you need, in less than a minute.

Public officers can search for available assets, updated in real-time.

2

Making the loaners' lives easy: Collating information in one place

Reducing back and forth between requestor and loaner.

We take away the mental load of thinking about logistical details.

What is your loan period? date range picker, next to a Review your request summary screen with loan details and contact information
3

Self-service drop-offs, for less hassle.

Check your asset's condition, Upload proof of asset condition, and Accept terms and conditions screens

Guardrails included: take photographs to verify your asset condition.

We know this step is crucial for loaners to have a peace of mind.

Our users loved it

1

4.1/5

How did you find the overall experience?

2

4.2/5

How likely or unlikely are you to use fynder to loan items?

3

4.9/5

How does this compare to your current experience?

We obtained clean hotspots during testing, signalling high usability and learnability! Heatmap of a date picker with a hotspot on the selected date, next to three mobile screens for accepting terms, checking asset condition, and uploading proof.
SCDF officers reviewing the Fynder prototype together on a laptop during a usability testing session
SCDF officers testing the Fynder loan request flow on a laptop, with a colleague pointing at the screen

"fynder will definitely reduce our downtime, and the amount of effort. It's something we've been waiting for."

Deputy Rota Commander at Marina Bay Fire Station

Learnings

Getting engineers and my PM into the same room on day one meant we were testing a real flow within the hour, instead of debating it in the abstract for weeks.

Designing for officers already drowning in manual processes and informal chats meant the bar wasn't just "delightful", it was "does this remove a WhatsApp message." Clean hotspots and a 98% cut in manhours suggest it did.