Looking for some ammunition to chop some costs and eliminate a paperwork headache? You’re about to get help from your service providers to eliminate all your paper billing records.

The switch to paperless recordkeeping is well under way. You know this already through the rising requests from bankers to eliminate your paper bank statements. But the momentum is expected to ramp up within the year.

Reason: 92% of 300 companies surveyed say they’ll introduce programs to switch their customers to an all electronic system within the next 12 months, according to the Green IT & Sustainability Survey 2009 made by consultants IDC.

Sure, the switch to paperless records of all kinds could help enhance a company’s green reputation. But that’s not the point.

The prime driver behind the go-paperless movement is bottom-line economics. Your service providers intend to maximize their investments in Green IT technologies, according to IDC’s Vernon Turner, because their computer infrastructure investments are under-utilized, so the switch to paperless helps justify all that Green IT equipment.

The survey also reports that 64% of companies said the switch was driven by desires to cut energy costs, and 46% listed sustainability as a reason to go paperless this year.

The IDC report is here. The 15-page slide presentation goes for $500.

Meanwhile, more proof of the trend to paperless is underway in the healthcare industry.

As the New York Times reports, hospitals are investing heavily to digitize patient records and dispense with the paper. Hospitals certainly see the move to electronic records as a win for the environment, a win for the patients by cutting costs, and a win for themselves by getting a leg up on their competition.

Tags: Green IT, IDC, paperless offices