If a computer was available, it was either locked in a special room or buried somewhere in an engineering lab, in both places restricted in its access. Instrument designs, and even embedded system designs, competed against other instruments or equipment, not computers. Today though the situation is vastly different. Everyone has been exposed to computers and the vast majority of people work daily with a computer. I'm here to say that it doesn't work that way.
Complexity has a price which most people in high places have difficulties accepting.
An elegant engineering solution to a complex problem might not be what the customer actually needs. I once developed the software for a real-time blood analyzer used during cardiac surgery. Everyone at my customer's facility told me that it worked great too. However, reports started coming back from the field with complaints about the difficulties using the instrument. I finally went into the operating room while the instrument was being used.