The Services Staircase is a framework developed by the Advanced Services Group that maps the different value propositions a manufacturing company can offer its customers along a servitization journey — from simply supplying a product to guaranteeing a business outcome.
The most common use of the staircase is strategic positioning: identifying where a company currently sits, and then planning a path toward more advanced service offerings. It gives manufacturers a shared reference point for defining servitization ambitions and aligning the organization around them.
The steps of the staircase
| Step | Value proposition |
|---|---|
| Product | We supply products |
| Product spares | We supply spare parts for products |
| Product break/fix | We restore the condition of products |
| Assured maintenance | We guarantee our performance in restoring the condition of products |
| Performance advisory | We guide the capture of more value from products |
| Customer asset capability | We guarantee the outcomes from products |
| Customer process capability | We guarantee the outcomes of business processes |
| Customer platform capability | We guarantee the outcomes of a business platform |
Keeping the focus on value, not technology
The staircase is also useful in a less obvious way: it keeps the conversation focused on value proposition rather than technology.
When planning a servitization move, it is easy to shift the conversation toward tools, platforms, and features. The staircase brings it back to the question that matters most: what are we actually offering the customer?
Research from the Advanced Services Group points out that it is common to hear executives say things like "we are offering Condition Monitoring" or "we are offering Digital Services." But these describe how a service is delivered — not what value the customer receives. The staircase reframes the question: what does the customer actually get?
Using the staircase to design your DPS system
The same risk appears when designing a Digital Product-Service (DPS) system. The conversation can easily shift toward technology: what data should we collect, what dashboards should we build, what integrations do we need?
These are necessary questions. But without a clear value proposition in mind, they risk producing a system that is technically complete yet commercially unfocused.
The staircase helps keep the focus on the right starting point: what value proposition are we supporting?
Each step implies a different set of capabilities:
- A company offering performance advisory needs a system that brings actionable insights to the right people at the right time — the technology serves the advisory relationship.
- A company offering assured maintenance needs a system that tracks commitments, schedules interventions, and demonstrates performance — the technology serves the service agreement.
- A company aiming for customer asset capability needs a system that monitors outcomes, triggers interventions, and supports a contractual guarantee — the technology serves the outcome.
By designing your DPS around the staircase, you avoid building capabilities for their own sake. Every feature should serve a value proposition you are already delivering — or clearly preparing to deliver.