I learned in my long career that data was more important than applications, although data and applications need each other like Yin&Yang. But I experienced, also from my NATO involvement in ISO 10303 CALS that:
"processes and applications will perish, but data will exist for ever'.
Lifecyclemanagement for digital defined capital goods that will exist decades (like defense, aerospace etc.) need during that multi-decade lifetime accurate product- and MRO-data that will exist many times longer than the lifetime of a design or production process and the than used applications. They are already many years perished when the product is still in use . . .