Exec claims to be leaving of own accord, reports suggest he was forced out German electronics giant Siemens AG is replacing its chief information officer (CIO), Friedrich Fröschl.Fröschl, 52, is leaving the company at the end of June, a Siemens spokeswoman confirmed Thursday. The German CIO will be replaced by Volkhart Matthäus, 61, current director of group auditing at Siemens in Munich.In his current position, Fröschl is responsible for the German group’s nearly $4.7 billion IT budget and its growing e-business operations. The executive, who took over as CIO in November 2001, decided “to leave of his own accord,” the spokeswoman said. She declined to comment on a report in the German business newspaper Handelsblatt claiming that Fröschl was being forced out of the high-level position.Fröschl could not be reached for comment.Earlier this year, Siemens embarked on a program to standardize business applications and consolidate computing infrastructure across its worldwide operations in a move to lower IT expenditure and increase efficiency. The program calls for cutting costs by €800 million over the next three years, Edmundo Ruiz, vice president of corporate information and operations groups at Siemens, said in a January interview. Software DevelopmentTechnology IndustryCloud ComputingManaged Cloud ServicesSmall and Medium Business