I think I understand the resistance to change in the database world. In fact I would rather phrase it as a resistance to change quickly. Data is core to every system and often many systems share the same data source so if one system or subsystem goes down then you lose one system but if the database goes down then you lose many (or all) of the systems.

There are plenty of opportunities to use individual systems to evaluate new technologies and develop best practices. Using a central component, such as the database, can seem a little foolhardy. (usual caveat of "depends on your particular scenario" applies)