#1 most frequent
United States of America
89.7%26 installations of 29
What is Spotlight?
Spotlight from Quest Software is a database performance monitoring option.
Categories & Use Cases
Product Demos
Top Performing Features
Performance dashboard
Dashboard displays consolidated data with drill-down capability
Category average: 9.1
Intelligent alerting
Customizable alerts and reports indicating outlier values from baseline
Category average: 7.9
Historical trend data
Historical trends and anomalies for SQL tuning
Category average: 8.6
Areas for Improvement
Virtualization support
Root cause analysis for virtual platforms like VMWare or Hyper-V
Category average: 8.4
Top SQL
Details about any long-running or high impact statements
Category average: 8.6
Who Buys & Uses Spotlight
#2 most frequent
Netherlands
6.9%2 installations of 29
#3 most frequent
Canada
3.4%1 installation of 29
Great Value for Forecasting and Reporting Software
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Spotlight for two main reasons; first, it is syncs with Xero accounting system so most of our clients are on Xero. Second, it has a easy to use interface and lots of different report packages. We meet with out clients on monthly, quarterly basis and use Spotlight for financial reporting, forecasting and budgeting.
Pros
- Provides an extensive chart gallery with templating, customization
- Consolidates multiple client organizations (We are using Xero)
- Full 3-way forecasting with flexible rules
- Financial and non-financial KPI reporting
Cons
- Cash Flow analysis could be better, there are many different scenarios to calculate the cash flow but flexibility is not great.
- Incorporating machine learning algorithms for predictive analytics could enhance forecasting accuracy
Return on Investment
- Virtual CFO work: By automating report generation, consolidating data, and providing actionable insights, Spotlight saves time. We can focus on value-added advisory services, leading to increased billable hours and client satisfaction.
- Trust: Transparent reporting builds trust. Clients appreciate clear visualizations
- Implementing Spotlight requires mapping data from accounting systems.
- some smaller businesses may find the subscription cost relatively high.
Usability
Alternatives Considered
Fathom and Float Cash Flow
Other Software Used
Xero, Fathom, HubSpot CRM, QuickBooks Online, Hubdoc, Deputy
Spotlight Review
Pros
- The screen is color-coded, so when Red or Orange is displayed you are able to drill down into that setting and figure out what is going on.
- This tool also integrates with the OEM agents which will also have implemented.
- Spotlight also works great without RAC databases, able to view at the cluster level or drill down to instances and VM's.
Cons
- Have not found any issues at this point.
Return on Investment
- We have not encountered any issues and continue to keep Spotlight's version current.
- Very simple to set up and add databases. The only thing that has to happen to the database is that a user ID needs to exist.
Alternatives Considered
Oracle Enterprise Manager
Other Software Used
Toad for Oracle, Oracle Enterprise Manager
Spotlight is a great tool for insight into SQL Server
Pros
- Great SQL server monitoring
- Rewind and playback of previous times
Cons
- Some things like the "server health" ratings are tied to preset properties and are less useful if those are not important in your environment.
- It can be challenging to adjust thresholds to try to make alerting and status more accurate.
Return on Investment
- Spotlight is reasonably inexpensive, and any one of the multiple things we use it for more than justifies the cost.
Other Software Used
Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure DevOps Server (formerly Team Foundation Server)
Dell Spotlight
Pros
- I love the main page that provides a color code list of all the servers so I know very quickly where to focus my attention first.
- I love how easy it is to configure new notifications.
- I love how easy it is to configure a new server to monitor.
Cons
- My only complaint was the cost.
Return on Investment
- It had a positive impact in two main areas. First, it was easy for the DBA team to configure it to watch and alert on the most important instances. And second, it was very easy to provide clients read-only access to the dashboard so they could watch their servers as well, i.e. they weren't always pestering us for current status.
Other Software Used
JIRA Service Desk