Also known as mNext, the conference turned up anecdote after anecdote that the transformation tablets are creating in the enterprise is occuring at light-speed.

There were end-users eager to share how many tablets they deployed while others scribbled notes during their presentations. The I.T. guys were there, worrying about provisioning, and perhaps more importantly, concerned that their numbers would shrink as more BYOD-ers stopped calling the company help desk. And there were vendors evangelizing that wireless meant freedom.

It was apparent this was an event with bold claims to make but not that much objective data to back it up. Whither ROI?

Perhaps the greatest hush fell over the crowd when Michael R. Overly, an attorney at Foley & Lardner, in his “Seven Risks You May Not Have Considered” presentation told the crowd that mixing professional and personal data in a BYOD device is verboten. “Most employees do not understand that,” he told conference attendees. “You could have information on there like family mental health or recreational activities. They will not be protected.”

He went on to caution again third party usage, such as, you know, letting the wife use the tablet. It violates corporate contracts. You can educate employees about it but it doesn’t really help. “If your wife reviews your company email, you are likely breaking a federal law,” he told a very still crowd. “There’s not a good way around it.”

One more thing: He said it’s probable that corporate clients and customers won’t want their secrets on your non-secured tablets. “Who will be the first company to be investigated by the FCC” for dubious corporate governance practices?” he wondered out loud. So much for BYOD being a simple solution.

Massive, rapid deployments by SAP, FedEx, Roche

Please don’t get me wrong. The conference wasn’t all furrowed brows and cautionary tales. There were plenty of early adapter success stories to tell.

When it was Oliver Bussman’s turn to speak during a Wednesday afternoon strategy session, SAP’s chief technology lawyer proudly stated that to date his company had deployed 11,500 iPads to date with more to come as well as an initial rollout of Samsung Galaxy Tablets. He called his iPad deployment “the third largest globally” and he added that 100% of his sales force was equipped with iPads.

What’s more, Bussman said it took the company only 6 weeks to get those tablets into the field and running. He said the company offered SAP app stores both externally and internally. And, as if that weren’t enough, he told the audience that “within the next 18 months, SAP will be moving into HTML 5.”

He wasn’t the only exec up there throwing around impressive tablet/mobile number. Matt Berardi, FedEx’s managing director of operations technology told conference attendees the package deliverer started using tablets (iPads) in October 2010 and that the company has made a “huge investment” in mobile, with more that 150,000 FedEx cellular devices on the road. He said that among this number, there were 40,000 rugged mobile devices. Adjunctively, Berardi noted that mobile is force-feeding enterprise businesses to become accustomed to quicker innovation cycles.

And Marc Wiest, Roche group informatics project manager, speaking during “The Role of Tablets in the New Mobile Framework” panel discussion, extolled the virtues of the iPad, saying it allowed the pharmaceutical company to be more agile. “It allows our sales reps to be more efficient,” he said. “And the customer meetings are more interactive.”

Roche has deployed 31,00 tablets in North America and 500 in Latin America so far, Wiest said, with the intention to roll out additional tablets globally. “It is a replacement for the notebook,” he said.

But it’s not going to be all smooth sailing. As FedEx’s Bearardi implied, help desk functions would revert back to BYOD product troubleshooters.

Statements and others like that both at the event and in the blogosphere have IT administrators across the globe concerned—rightfully so—that their department will not only morph in function, but shrink in size.