Selling subscriptions, rather than perpetual licenses, makes its data visualization products more available to a variety of organizations and easier to use for employees at large businesses, the company said, while providing a more stable revenue stream. Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky speaks at Tableau Conference 2016. (Tableau Software Photo.) "With the lower upfront cost and reduced risk that subscription licensing offers to customers, a record number of organizations are turning to Tableau as the mission-critical analytics platform for their data needs," Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky said in a statement in February.