(FORTUNE Magazine) – What is the most valuable part of your technology investment? Yes, this is a trick question. And no, it's not your PCs and servers. And it's not your software either. It's your data, the stuff that really counts in running your business.

For many years, the only people in high tech who talked about data were the guys who wanted to sell you expensive backup power equipment and off-site storage facilities. That fell into the category I call BBI--boring but important. It was important to make sure you had protected your data because the information wasn't very mobile. If it was on the mainframe, you had to access the mainframe to get it. Data on the PC stayed there, and the twain didn't meet.

But information is a lot sexier--and a lot more mobile--today. This time, data have been pushed into the spotlight (isn't everything?) by the Internet revolution. The screaming headline on the latest cover of PC Magazine--a place I used to work--brought it home for me: THROW AWAY YOUR SOFTWARE! The editors were talking about the excitement over application service providers, which promise to let you use software over the Net without having to buy it (except for a small fee, of course). What an amazing stance for a magazine that used to obsess about how long it took to search and replace a word in a 100-page document.

But, of course, the world has changed. If hardware is a commodity (and almost free) and software is irrelevant, what does that leave you with? Your data, of course--and because information can move around, it has more value. It can be shared, passed around, located in several places at once, used for many different purposes.

It's no coincidence that in recent weeks, handheld devices have dominated the technology headlines. Palm Computing introduced its wireless Palm VII, and both Handspring and TRG unveiled Palm clones. But perhaps the most important announcement was a deal that will put Palm's operating system on Nokia phones.

Why all the fuss about handhelds? The world woke up one day and realized that the modest Palm devices with the black-and-white screens are just right for carrying around valuable information. Using one of several products vying to turn Palm Pilots into enterprise tools, important corporate data--for example, up-to-date price lists, inventory reports, or product catalogs--will be downloaded to company-issued Palms. A neat product from AvantGo (www.avantgo.com) will let you choose news from a variety of sources and download it into your Palm for later reading.

The Nokia-Palm deal means you'll be able to move your important phone numbers into your phone, tap a name, and make a telephone call. A product called FoneSync, sold by some cellular vendors, already lets you transfer selected names from your contact list to your cell phone. It will also synchronize any numbers you add to the phone back to your desktop phone list.

What all these products and new developments have in common is the easy flow of data. Your appointments and customer lists can reside on your PC, on your Palm, or on the Internet in an online calendar and phone book. Your company's inventory, order-tracking report, or accounts status can live in an ancient minicomputer, an NT server, a personal PC--or all of them. You'll access your valuable information via your notebook, your Palm, or an equivalent handheld, over the air on a wireless connection, or by logging on to the Internet.

What device you use or what operating system is running becomes less and less important. The result is that your data increase in value. Data drive your schedule, your business decisions, and your profits. And with the emancipation of data comes a new freedom to do business wherever and whenever you want.