Small and medium-sized businesses continue to migrate to cloud-based environments in an attempt to increase productivity, lower costs and gain a competitive advantage on larger firms. However, their migrations are not without challenges, and decision-makers should focus on finances and trust during cloud deployments, according to IBM product marketing director Rebecca Buisan.

SMBs don't need to migrate everything to cloud servers on their first go. Instead, they should focus on building a relationship with a trusted partner who will help evaluate how ready a business is for the cloud, which methods of adoption carry the most significant benefits and when solutions can be migrated, Buisan said.

Today's unpredictable economy has also forced IT departments to do more with less. By implementing scalable cloud computing services, SMBs can take advantage of a pay-as-you-go pricing model and on-demand solutions, allowing them to succeed while following their mantra, Buisan asserted.

Popular cloud services being deployed by companies are collaboration and productivity tools that enable employees to work together from any location through a wide range of devices. The market for these solutions will generate more than $21 billion in revenue by 2018, according to WinterGreen Research, helping push the entire cloud market forward.