Siemens Gamesa's CIO: Building Resilience Through Harmonized Planning and Transformation

When Siemens Gamesa set out to unify its global operations, the overarching challenge was enabling a cultural shift. For Global CIO Mark Ghibril, the goal was never to “implement a tool.” It was to harmonize processes, elevate data quality, and ultimately, prepare the business to navigate a volatile energy landscape. In the world of renewable energy, where speed and sustainability must go hand in hand, Siemens Gamesa’s transformation story is a testament to the power of alignment, simplification, and continuous improvement.

Born from the merger of two major entities, Siemens Gamesa inherited a diverse and fragmented technology landscape. As Mark explains, “Since the integration, the complexities and challenges we faced were about having two different landscapes we needed to harmonize and integrate.”

This presented an opportunity to select a best-in-class planning solution and fundamentally rethink how the company operated across regions and functions. Implementing o9 was as much about redefining internal processes as it was about technology. “It’s not only an implementation of a tool, but it’s a transformation for our processes,” Mark says.

The team approached this dual ambition with the intention of aligning on a global process, cleaning up disparate data systems, and selecting a platform that could scale. In doing so, they laid the groundwork for a connected, end-to-end planning environment that could support the business well into the future.

Don’t wait for perfect data

So many transformation efforts stall in the preparation phase, waiting for perfect data before initiating change. Mark offers a different perspective: “Do not wait for perfection before you start. Accept that the road will be bumpy.”

Rather than delay implementation, Siemens Gamesa chose to work iteratively, allowing their data models to evolve as users engaged with the platform. This real-world feedback loop proved invaluable. It helped surface hidden inconsistencies and accelerate harmonization. With o9 in place, teams began using a single system for Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), enabling a new level of global visibility.

But with that progress came a new challenge: adoption. “Now we have the tool, we have the data, we have the process. Now we need to onboard the team to use it.” As Mark points out, this required more than just training, it meant rethinking the way people work.

Driving change, one planner at a time

The biggest hurdle in any transformation is not the system—it’s people. “The best planner that was in the past will not necessarily be the best planner now,” says Mark. Changing tools means changing expectations. For Siemens Gamesa, this meant helping teams not only learn how to use a new system but understand how their roles were evolving.

To support this shift, the organization invested in structured change management programs. Live demos helped teams visualize the new processes. Superusers and key users became internal champions. And perhaps most importantly, feedback loops ensured the rollout remained responsive to local needs.

Value beats speed

Early in the program, the focus was on deployment speed—getting the solution live, ensuring data flowed correctly, and providing users with functional tools. But as the rollout progressed, the KPIs evolved. “Now we’re moving from performance monitoring into business value monitoring.”

That shift reflects a deeper maturity in how Siemens Gamesa is thinking about planning: not just as a workflow but as a lever for enterprise-wide decision-making. KPIs are being updated to reflect goals such as touchless planning, reduced manual intervention, and improved data quality across systems.

The goal is to measure not only what gets done, but how intelligently and efficiently it gets done.

A scalable foundation for the future

While the initial focus was on S&OP, Mark sees o9 as a broader opportunity to simplify the company’s system architecture. “We have a very clear principle,” he explains. “If we can use fewer tools, the users will be less confused and adoption will increase.”

By building on o9’s unified platform, Siemens Gamesa hopes to extend these benefits across the business, from tactical planning to strategic forecasting, from manufacturing to sustainability. Already, the early benefits are clear: harmonized processes, improved data quality, and a system users can rely on.

But perhaps the most important outcome is trust: trust in the platform, trust in the data, and trust that a more agile way of working is possible.

Reinventing the role of the CIO

For Mark, this transformation is also personal. As someone who entered IT from a background in electrical engineering, his interest in technology has always been grounded in real-world impact. “Technology started being very exciting for me when I saw how quickly it was changing.”

Today, as CIO, that excitement is focused on enabling business transformation—not just providing infrastructure, but helping shape how the business operates and grows. From simplifying the IT landscape to driving end-to-end visibility, Mark sees digital planning as a central lever in Siemens Gamesa’s mission to deliver clean, reliable energy.

“o9 is now part of our landscape,” he says. “We’re exploring what other functionalities we can drive toward the business. But first, we need to make S&OP successful. That’s what earns us the trust to scale.”

Looking ahead

Siemens Gamesa’s transformation offers a powerful example of what it takes to modernize planning in a complex, global organization. Rather than waiting for perfect conditions, the team embraced an iterative approach: tackling data challenges, harmonizing processes, and building adoption as they went. Throughout the journey, change management proved just as critical as technology, with structured training and continuous feedback helping planners adapt to a new way of working. 

Today, the organization is shifting its focus from deployment speed to long-term business value, with new KPIs centered on efficiency, automation, and strategic impact. By delivering early success with S&OP, Siemens Gamesa has built the foundation to scale, expand functionality, and simplify its digital landscape. In doing so, it has not only improved operational agility but also strengthened trust in its data, its systems, and its ability to navigate a fast-changing energy market.

See o9’s solutions in action

Take a free self-guided tour of the o9 platform to explore the advantages of our solutions at your own pace.

Request access