Aeris CEO Aziz Benmalek has been recognised for his vision in deploying operational AI internally and bringing agentic AI to the connected physical world at scale.

He has been named to Channel Insider’s 2026 AI 50, (www.channelinsider.com/ai-50/) recognising technology leaders who are driving meaningful innovation and leadership in AI across the IT channel.

This follows Benmalek’s vision and execution in making AI a core part of Aeris’ business and technology strategy, including deploying AI agents across the company and bringing agentic AI capabilities to the connected vehicle and IoT ecosystems.

“The opportunity is not simply using AI to generate information but giving AI the ability to understand what is happening, make decisions and act,” said Benmalek. “At Aeris, we are building toward a world where the network becomes an intelligent layer connecting those decisions to the physical systems they ultimately impact.”

Under Benmalek’s leadership, Aeris has embraced an AI-first approach that spans internal operations and commercial innovation. The company’s AI intelligence hub deploys multi-agent systems that autonomously perform system-level root cause analysis across network, vehicle and application layers, using natural language queries in place of static dashboards.

These autonomous agents continuously monitor fleet behaviour, diagnose issues in real time and reduce mean time to resolution. Beyond enabling intelligent connected vehicles, Aeris’ agentic AI layer extends across more than 115 million connected devices, including 41 million eSIMs managed globally.

Internally, the company has deployed dozens of AI agents powered by model context protocols (MCPs), connecting proprietary and third-party systems to streamline workflows and accelerate efficiency across the organisation.

Aeris (aeris.com) serves a global ecosystem of 7000 enterprise customers, nearly 30 mobile network operator partners and 115 million connected devices across the world. It supports 70 automotive programmes across 45 vehicle brands and 30 global automotive OEM groups.