The realization of digitalization in production companies – currently also referred to as Industry

4.0 – aims for reduction of internal value creation costs as well as costs for intercompany

collaboration and plays a key role in their current strategy development. However, related

strategy research still lacks to provide operationalized digitalization methods and tools to

practitioners with scientific rigor as well as real-world relevance. To challenge this status

quo, we present a scientifically grounded 14-step procedure model including 11 practically

tested tools, developed specifically for real-world application. The model leads practitioners

from their first contact with industrial digitalization, through the maturity assessment of

143 digitalization items, until the implementation of a KPI-monitoring system and a continuous

improvement process. We applied and re-worked the procedure model during three

years of application. Validation and Feedback from practitioners and scholars indicate, that

the model drives strategy development towards objective and data-based decision making

and increases stakeholder engagement in organizations considerably.