We have conducted several meetings in the Nordic area designed to answer first hand questions PADI Members like yourself may have connected to the creation of the New PADI Europe, Middle East, Africa office (PADI EMEA).
Both for those of you that were at one of the meetings and for those of you that were unable to attend and didn’t have a chance to participate. We want to make sure you are kept informed as to the answers to the questions asked; below we have put together a short Q&A section. But if you have a question not answered below please feel free to contact us.
Q. Will the office in Gothenburg be open for the rest of 2011?
A. Yes. Although behind the scenes, the three offices that will make up PADI EMEA (PADI Europe, PADI Nordic and PADI International Ltd) will work towards a single identity, the office in Gothenburg with its present staff will continue to service your needs throughout the year.
Q. In regards to things like industry relations, meetings with government officials and local legislation, will PADI EMEA have local representation to champion our causes?
A. Yes. Trond Skaare, Han’s (Olle) Olsson, Mox Moberg and Immi Wallin who have represented your interests while working for PADI Nordic will continue to work on your behalf as employees of PADI EMEA.
Q. Although the majority of Nordic members speak English well, will we be able to communicate with EMEA in the Nordic Language?
A. Yes. Apart from continuing to have as full members of staff the individuals named above, several other positions within EMEA will be filled with Nordic language speaking staff members.
Q. Will communicating with the new EMEA office be more expensive for Nordic Members?
A. No. Our intention is by 2012 to have in place a phone system that enables PADI Members phoning the EMEA office from the Nordic countries to pay the local call charge while EMEA will pick up the bill for the international side of the call.
Q. Will communicating by Skype and placing orders on line through the PADI eShop be an option when Nordic Members are a part of EMEA?
A. Yes. All EMEA Members will be able to take advantage of this technology. Allowing you to place your orders at a time that is convenient to you.
Q. What currency will I be paying for product in 2012?
A. Euro.
Q. Will the VAT (Valued added Tax) we presently pay increase?
A. No. It will reflect the VAT you presently pay in your country.
Q. Will the cost of shipping go up?
A. Preliminary trials have indicated that this will not happen. This is due to the combined buying power of such a large single dispatching warehouse.
Q. In the Nordic region we are use to being invoiced for the products we purchase. Will this continue under EMEA?
A. Yes. We will honour any payment agreement that is presently in place through the Gothenburg office.,
Q. Presently in-cooperated into our PADI Membership we enjoy a liability protection insurance police negotiated by PADI. Will this continue under EMEA?
A. This is something we are working on now. Our intention is to be able to provide you with the same policy or one comparable in price and coverage with the one you presently enjoy. We will be able to give you more information closer to renewal time.
Q. Under EMEA will we be a part of the global Marketing campaigns enjoyed by PADI Members in larger offices?
A. Yes. One of the many advantages of combining the resources of the three offices is to be able to work as one strong global marketing unit. This will enable us to target divers who gain their PADI qualifications outside of the Nordic territory but live within Scandinavia.
Q. What from a marketing point of view do you see the strength of EMEA?
A. Working as one single identity EMEA will have tremendous opportunities to work with Equipment Manufacturers, Publications, and industry partners. We can organise acquisition campaigns that covers divers as far apart as Greenland in the North, South Africa in the South, Vladivostok in the East and the Azores in the West. From a Marketers view point this is a very exciting time
Q. Can we expect more PADI Materials translated into the Nordic languages?
A. Yes. When PADI Materials are identified for translation in the EMEA service territory the Nordic language will follow the same procedure for translation as the German, French, Italian and other languages in the territory.
Q. Will there be any problems with the combining of three offices?
A. We are human and can not guarantee that there will not be small hick-ups during the amalgamation of three service offices. We have given our selves over a year to complete the task and our goal is to complete the merger as seamlessly as possible to the membership. If we get it right all you will see are the advantages of being part of the biggest single PADI office in the world.
Q. Can we assure our members that the process that will be used by EMEA will insure that characters for printing on the C-cards – will to be able to handle Danish / Finish characters?
A. The process currently used to produce the certification cards will not change.
Q. Are their plans that will allow the PADI eLearning programs to be accessed through an Ipad
A. Not that we are aware of at the moment.
Q. What will the time line be for shipping from the UK to the Nordic territory?
1) Number of days once it has left the EMEA Warehouse?
2) Number of hours/working days from order being placed, to leaving the office?
3) Expected reliability and consistency of carriers?
A. We fully understand any concerns our members in the Nordic territory will have in regard to delivery times and reliability when we begin to despatch product orders from the EMEA distribution centre based in Bristol. We take these concerns very seriously and have worked tirelessly to minimise any possible disruption to your working day and to the profitability and efficiency of your business. Our preferred carrier is DHL and we have been in partnership with them for over 15 years, and over the years we have built up an excellent working relationship with them. We have spoken at great length with the top executives at DHL about the forthcoming changes and they are well aware of our expectations and we are assured we have, in that partnership, a reliable and consistent method of shipping to all PADI members. Our pledge is to pack and ship orders within 5 working days of the order being confirmed. This is the maximum time we set ourselves and in reality if the order is complete and fully paid for, the average time to ship and pack is within one to two working days. The transit times from the UK to the Nordic countries is shown in the table below.
Country Transit time
Denmark 1-2 days
Estonia 1-2 days
Faroe Islands 1-2 days
Finland 1-2 days
Greenland 1-2 days
Iceland 1-2 days
Norway 1-2 days
Sweden 1-2 days
You will find these transit times are very similar to the transit times you currently experience. We can reassure you that we will do our utmost to ensure you receive a first-class service. If you have any concerns or questions regarding anything related to distribution, then please do not hesitate to contact Mike Filer either by email mike.filer@padi.co.uk or telephone +44 (0) 117 3007326, or you can contact
Mig Sutherland, Distribution Supervisor via email Miguel.sutherland@padi.co.uk or telephone +44 (0) 117 3007311.
Q. Under EMEA will webinars be available in the appropriate Nordic languages?
A. Yes, we will start in the second semester of 2011 to launch the first webinars in the Nordic languages and make this available fully in 2012. There will be webinars dedicated to the members and to the PADI Retail and Resort Association members.
Q. Under EMEA will Teaching video clips be available using Nordic (Green water) conditions?
A. We definitely will be working on this and start to use the library that is available within the EMEA region.
Q. Any plans for specific Finnish materials for translation?
A. A thorough evaluation of the market needs will be done during the budget process. Extensive exchange with the Finnish members will be done in order to identify the urgent needs and determine priorities.
Q. Can we change EMEA Member Forums to more training related issues?
A. The PADI on Tour concept currently pilot tested in other parts of Europe is exactly providing the training orientated parts. The PADI on Tour will be implemented in the Nordic countries as of 2012.
Q. Pricelist; Will pricing in the Nordic area mirror the rest of the EMEA territory and will this show a decrease in Pricing from that now charged in the Nordic area?
A. Yes, definitely. The product line will be aligned for the whole PADI EMEA territory and the prices will be based on the Euro currency. Nordic members can count on a list of products being decreased in pricing.
Q. Is it possible that PADI EMEA can offer a “license for download” of minor materials e.g. an exam needed urgently? When needed, today PN offering to scan and send this exam by e-mail in urgent cases, at the same time as an order, payments and shipping the exam is done with normal routines.
A. We will research what protocols have been followed in the past by PADI Nordic and try to maintain similar levels of service. However, we will have to have a single policy for all of PADI EMEA.
Q. Will we talk with the same people as we are doing at the PN office today?
A. In regards to the front line personnel the answer is yes. Olle, Immi, Mox and Trond will all remain as EMEA employees living in the Nordic region. Internal Services such as Sales, PIC Processing and Accounts etc presently provided through Gothenburg will be transferred to the EMEA offices in Bristol. You will be given plenty of notification before this transfer takes place.
Q. What about competition from other training organizations?
A. Since PADI Dive Centers and members got a large market share of the diver education in the Nordic countries, there have been and will always be attempts from other organizations to take a piece of the cake. For over 30 years now we have not seen any significant Dive Center using another organization for diver training surviving over time. Fact is: PADI do cross over 1-3 Dive Center each year from other organizations. We got Dive Centers now coming back to PADI for a variety of reasons, have been trying other organizations. We believe PADI is not only the strongest brand in the diving world, but it is also the best choice for Dive centers and individual members regarding business, training quality and diver safety.
