Harvey Nash, the first recruitment company to launch an iPad App, and presently rolling out iPad 2s to its senior management team in 12 countries, surveyed 134 clients to learn more about the use of tablets in their companies.

• More than two-thirds of respondents reported currently owning or planning to buy a tablet device within 12 months;
• Of tablet users, 91 percent said they believe the tablet increased their productivity, and
• 75 percent were ‘surprised’ by how useful the device was.

I conducted a more detailed survey of how iPad impacted my own business activities last Summer and the results were pretty clear. Setting aside my obvious bias towards the magic tab and my less-than-scientific methods, I found that iPad (on average, put about 10+ hours of free time back on my stack each month.

Like the third category mentioned above, even with my iPad-centric emersion, I am surprised almost daily buy how much more utility value iPad delivers as the variety and quality of apps continue to achieve.

And speaking of recruitment, the promise of increased productivity is not the only reason enterprises are adopting iPad. Enterprises must consider how influential an Apple-inclusive mobile device strategy can be to its workforce and its customer base. Embracing the happier side of mobile computing is a sure success path to creating an enterprise environment that’s seen as forward thinking, lighthearted, and somewhat hip. And by “hip” I mean just a skosh more hipper than casual-dress Fridays.