Here are 5 reasons it should:
1 Your images have a lifecycle too. Metadata should be entered by the creator and updated throughout the workflow.
2 Your metadata matters. It should be consistent, searchable, and easy for the users to enter and in some cases collected automatically.
3 How many clicks do your creators use to save their files in other formats for downstream systems and departments? These formats should be automatically created on save; and each time you edit later.
4 Is your file directory a huge navigation mess? The filing structure should be created automatically based on consistent file information that is saved within the file.
5 Need to know information about that image downstream? Look it up in the stored metadata. It’s all there because your images are now self aware.