Businesses usually have some analysts around, even if the business is not particularly “data-driven”.
The term Business Analyst has been around for a while, usually referring to a person who is a translator of sorts between Business Units and IT. These people try to make sure “requirements” from the business side are implemented as desired on the IT side.
Sometimes there are Operational Analysts, who are typically IT folks or Engineers, depending on the business. This is the world of Six Sigma and process, where the business is trying to improve throughput or cut down on waste. But we know that just because Operations is Operating Just Fine, we don’t always get the result we would like from a Marketing perspective.
A similar Analyst might be present in Marketing Operations Management. This is really about the process of Marketing execution though, not Acquisition / Retention / Customer Value.
I don’t think I have ever seen a decent-sized business without Financial Analysts. These folks look for variances or unusual activity in Financial Reporting and seek to explain why. Sometimes they actually get involved with Marketing analysis, though usually not for something like “Campaigns”. Instead, they look for structural problems that manifest as a “problem with Marketing” in the Financial systems.
