[lordnacho]

The BSM will give you all the things that you know intuitively about options. Gamma is high ATM front month, Vega is higher with time, theta accelerates as you near expiry, and so on.

In everyday terms, BSM vols are also what's used to talk about what the price IS. So even if you're using a fancy model, to talk to someone else about it you pull out the BSM vol and tell him that way.

What will help you hedge better is finding a way for your surface to fit what actually happens when the market moves. It isn't an exact thing; many traders ask for a little more or a little less floating skew from their quant guy.