How the Amazon Innovation Accelerator helped GAME FM turn ideas into action

Having ideas about how to improve your business is one thing. Finding the time and the right approach to turn those ideas into action can be much harder. 

For Gabriel Erinle, Founder of Go A Mile Extra Facilities Management (GAME FM), innovation was already part of his approach to business. He joined the Amazon Innovation Accelerator to explore how the company innovates and came away with new ways to develop ideas and move them forward. 

Finding new ways to innovate 

GAME FM is a Manchester-based facilities management company providing services including cleaning, security, maintenance and concierge support. Launched in 2024 with a team of two, the business now employs around 65 people across full and part-time roles. 

For Gabriel, whose career has progressed from frontline security through senior estate and facilities leadership to founding GAME FM, finding better ways to deliver services has always been important. 

I’ve always been someone who’s tried to look for efficient and innovative ways to deliver tasks and client requirements. Embedding technology into our processes and protocols makes life easier, so I’m constantly reviewing how we can make things even better for our team and clients.

But facilities management remains a people-led industry. While technology can remove repetitive work and make processes more efficient, there are limits to what can practically and affordably be automated. 

The accelerator gave Gabriel the opportunity to see how Amazon approaches similar challenges at a larger scale and explore new ways to develop and implement ideas. 

Seeing how a big brand like Amazon develops ideas and implements changes has opened my eyes to see what’s possible. It’s helped me look more positively at our challenges and given me more enthusiasm. 

Working backwards from the customer 

One approach that made an impression was Amazon's Working Backwards method, which starts with the customer problem before developing the solution. 

Amazon’s Working Backwards resonated with me. It was validating because it’s genuinely how I think – identifying my client’s challenges and thinking through solutions to make their life easier. The model is something I always talk about now.

As part of the accelerator, Gabriel applied this thinking to an idea that had been on his mind for a while. GAME Vision is a proposed platform designed to give employees immediate access to their organisation's procedures, standards and knowledge. 

The idea responds to a challenge Gabriel has seen throughout his career: maintaining consistent service when employees can be reliant on memory, paper procedures and multiple systems or devices. 

Through the accelerator, Gabriel developed the idea into a more concrete proposition, setting out how an initial version could be developed and tested with his customers. 

I’d had the idea for some time, but the programme gave me the time to work on it more and get it on paper. Even if I don’t progress through the awards, it’s something I will take away and develop further.

Moving change forward sooner 

The impact of the programme is also beginning to extend beyond one idea. 

Amazon’s PRFAQ process is something we’re embedding across our company. The team have responded positively. It’s early days, but we will see how we can start implementing it more during our end of year review.

One area where that thinking is already being applied is reporting. GAME FM has started using AI to automate parts of its reporting, reducing the amount of information the team need to input manually and making the process less reliant on a few individuals. 

For Gabriel, the biggest difference is not a completely new approach to innovation, but greater momentum behind making ideas a reality. 

Had we not taken part in Amazon’s programme, our progress would have been smaller in scale. We wouldn’t be talking about new changes and implementing them as quickly as we have done. It’s been a catalyst for us changing our ways of working sooner rather than later.