This sobering news served a vital purposeit created a sense of urgency surrounding the need to change and helped the CFO rally the organizational support needed to institute a comprehensive reengineering initiative
The reengineering initiative would have failed if this troubling news had not come to light. 
mnli hypothesis: The reengineering initiative would have failed if this troubling news had not come to light.  premise: This sobering news served a vital purposeit created a sense of urgency surrounding the need to change and helped the CFO rally the organizational support needed to institute a comprehensive reengineering initiative