Many businesses are searching for ways to trim the fat from their budgets as a result of the economic downturn.

One area that could save businesses a large amount of money is content management, according to the latest research from TowerGroup.

The study, titled Beyond the Paper Scourge: Unleashing the Business Value of Electronic Content Management, found that content management – which includes manual processes, paper documents and mailing expenses – costs U.S. financial service institutions more than $80 billion each year.

In addition, these processes are responsible for 10 percent of carbon emissions generated by financial companies.

Both amounts – spending and carbon emissions – can be reduced significantly through the implementation of electronic content management (ECM) solutions, the study found.

"Innovation in ECM lies in preserving information in its original digital form and in its ability to move information through a process, be stored, and be accessed digitally," TowerGroup reported. "ECM enhances business value by improving operational efficiency, customer experience, compliance, and risk management."

Finding cost-effective IT solutions is more important than ever, as worldwide IT spending is projected to decline 6 percent from 2008, according to recent research from Gartner.