I have indeed witnessed that whatever efforts you put in the development and maintenance of an Application-Centric architecture, it will turn into an uncontrollable mess with passing years. It is just a matter of time.
Data-Centric is the new way to go, but people are so much used to Application-Centric that this change of paradigm is met at best with scepticism.
For the future of data, we need to change this state of mind. Spread the word !