The Trillion Dollar Question

Thanks for your input @carla, @john, @gabriel and @peter. I have to say that I agree with you all that culture, brains, technology and vision are all important and should be on any list. I'd assert that brains, culture and vision all come under the 'people' banner but admittedly in a fairly loose sense. As for technology I nearly put that on my list because without the right technology in the internet age then many (but not all) businesses will struggle to compete. I asked my question because a data company tweeted that data was the most import thing in any company without exception and I disagreed with this. Without the right people (and their brains, vision, culture etc) then no company can do anything of any worth. But the data is import too :-)

Culture should definitely be on that list.

Mark: I think the trillion dollar question, is not to ask what is the most important thing, but which must precede which and why, with the premise that all are important, because the answer may be quite relative and create an unproductive debate. It is almost obvious that people are the most important in any process, albeit in a highly automated process someone might say that the technologies are most important, like data or other key elements of the business field. Finally, I suggest not handle the concepts "data" and "information" as equivalent, since if it is true they are related, each has its own definition, its own quality criteria, its own "personality" and, most importantly its indiscriminate use can lead to confusion.

its vision; that is implemented and nurtured through its people.

I'm nearly 257% sure that this question isn't worth $1,000,000,000,000